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Former Disney CEO Bob Iger and investor Josh Kushner buy the Los Angeles Lakers

The Washington Wizards play the Los Angeles Lakers during the first half at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on March 30, 2026.
Ronald Martinez / Getty Images
The Washington Wizards play the Los Angeles Lakers during the first half at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on March 30, 2026.

Updated August 13, 2026 at 10:30 AM ET

The Los Angeles Lakers are changing hands again. Venture capitalist Joshua Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger confirm they are buying the team. The Associated Press, citing anonymous sources, reports the price is $12.5 billion.

NPR has not independently confirmed that amount, and the sale still needs league approval. If confirmed, it would be the highest sale price for a sports team in history.

In a statement, Kushner and Iger say they are “deeply honored by the opportunity to become stewards of the Lakers.”

The team’s current owner, investment manager Mark Walter, bought a controlling stake last year at a $10 billion valuation. Mike Vorkunov, who covers the NBA and the business of basketball for The Athletic, told NPR’s Michel Martin the sale would give Walter a substantial return in less than a year. He also pointed to reporting from Bloomberg that the federal government is investigating Walter and his companies for potential financial improprieties, suggesting the sale could provide Walter with additional cash as he deals with those legal issues.

Kushner, the brother of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, has recently expanded his sports investments, including buying a minority stake in the San Francisco Giants. His firm had also been poised to lead investment in a proposed FIFA commercial venture involving the World Cup and other events, but the plan was dropped after facing opposition.

Vorkunov says buying the Lakers offers something exceptional: control of one of the NBA’s marquee franchises. The deal now goes to the league’s board of governors for approval.

Listen to the full interview by clicking the play button above.

The digital version of this interview was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.

Copyright 2026 NPR

Michel Martin is the weekend host of All Things Considered and host of the Consider This Saturday podcast, where she draws on her deep reporting and interviewing experience to dig in to the week's news. Outside the studio, she has also hosted "Michel Martin: Going There," an ambitious live event series in collaboration with Member Stations.

Martin came to NPR in 2006 and launched Tell Me More, a one-hour daily NPR news and talk show that aired on NPR stations nationwide from 2007-2014 and dipped into thousands of important conversations taking place in the corridors of power, but also in houses of worship, and barber shops and beauty shops, at PTA meetings, town halls, and at the kitchen table.

She has spent more than 25 years as a journalist — first in print with major newspapers and then in television. Tell Me More marked her debut as a full-time public radio show host. Martin says, "What makes public radio special is that it's got both intimacy and reach all at once. For the cost of a phone call, I can take you around the world. But I'm right there with you in your car, in your living room or kitchen or office, in your iPod. Radio itself is an incredible tool and when you combine that with the global resources of NPR plus the commitment to quality, responsibility and civility, it's an unbeatable combination."

Martin has also served as contributor and substitute host for NPR newsmagazines and talk shows, including Talk of the Nation and News & Notes.

Martin joined NPR from ABC News, where she worked since 1992. She served as correspondent for Nightline from 1996 to 2006, reporting on such subjects as the congressional budget battles, the U.S. embassy bombings in Africa, racial profiling and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. At ABC, she also contributed to numerous programs and specials, including the network's award-winning coverage of Sept. 11, a documentary on the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas controversy, a critically acclaimed AIDS special and reports for the ongoing series "America in Black and White." Martin reported for the ABC newsmagazine Day One, winning an Emmy for her coverage of the international campaign to ban the use of landmines, and was a regular panelist on This Week with George Stephanopoulos. She also hosted the 13-episode series Life 360, an innovative program partnership between Oregon Public Broadcasting and Nightline incorporating documentary film, performance and personal narrative; it aired on public television stations across the country.

Before joining ABC, Martin covered state and local politics for the Washington Post and national politics and policy at the Wall Street Journal, where she was White House correspondent. She has also been a regular panelist on the PBS series Washington Week and a contributor to NOW with Bill Moyers.

Martin has been honored by numerous organizations, including the Candace Award for Communications from The National Coalition of 100 Black Women, the Joan Barone Award for Excellence in Washington-based National Affairs/Public Policy Broadcasting from the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association and a 2002 Silver Gavel Award, given by the American Bar Association. Along with her Emmy award, she received three additional Emmy nominations, including one with WNYC's Robert Krulwich, at the time an ABC contributor as well, for an ABC News program examining children's racial attitudes. In 2019, Martin was elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for outstanding achievement in journalism. She is the 2021 recipient of PMJA's 2021 Leo C. Lee Award.

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Martin graduated cum laude from Radcliffe College at Harvard University in 1980 and earned a Master of Arts from the Wesley Theological Seminary in 2016.

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