LeBron James may have picked Philadelphia, but the timing of that choice keeps looking smarter by the day.
While the NBA usually slows down in mid-August, the Lakers have spent the past week creating plenty of noise. First, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN reported last week that Mark Walter sold the Lakers to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner for $12.5 billion. Then on Monday, Shams Charania of ESPN reported that the Buss family agreed to sell its 17.8% stake in the organization to Iger and Kushner, which means Jeanie Buss will no longer be the team’s governor once the deal is completed.
For the first time since 1979, when Jerry Buss bought the franchise, the Buss family will not be involved with the Lakers.
The NBA’s board of governors still has to approve the sale, so nothing is official yet. Even so, this is a massive shift for one of the league’s most recognizable franchises.
Once the transaction closes, Jeanie Buss won’t meet the NBA’s ownership threshold to stay in that governor role. League rules require controlling owners and governors to hold at least 15% of a franchise.
All of that only adds to the turbulence around a Lakers organization that has already been dealing with instability for the past 14 months, ever since Walter first agreed to become the majority owner. Now Iger and Kushner are set to control 83% of the team, and that could open the door to replacing Rob Pelinka, the president of basketball operations, with someone of their choosing.
That might eventually help the Lakers, but it also brings another round of questions about what comes next.
From LeBron’s perspective, leaving Los Angeles now looks even easier to understand. He said in a statement after choosing Philadelphia that his focus is on winning another title, and as Rich Paul repeatedly said while the 41-year-old weighed his options in free agency, James’ happiness mattered.
Philadelphia may have been surprising to some because it wasn’t the Cavaliers or the Heat, but the fit makes sense on its own terms. He gets to play in front of one of the sport’s most passionate fan bases, in a city that lives and breathes basketball, while also giving the Sixers a chance to reach the level they’ve been chasing.
And unlike in Los Angeles, he doesn’t have to sit through the Lakers’ chaos while trying to finish out the final stretch of his career. Whatever reasons drew him to LA in the first place, the view from here makes his decision to leave look pretty good.
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