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Par Pierre-Andréa Fraile | Journaliste sportif
While sports news continues to dominate the NBA, the Lakers’ recent record sale has not gone unnoticed. On the contrary, Draymond Green took it upon himself to warn the rest of the league, seeing it as a major threat to the competition.
It’s no surprise to see them in the news this off-season. The Lakers were, after all, destined to make news through their activity on the trade market. Their premature elimination from the playoffs meant that they had to rework their roster. But in the meantime, a major change has been made to the organizational chart, and a major page has been turned.
Draymond Green’s dry warning about the Lakers
After a 46-year tenure at the helm of the franchise, the Buss family sold the Lakers to billionaire Mark Walter on Wednesday. In exchange for a handsome check for $10 billion, a record in the entire world of sports. Supposedly enough to delight Luka Doncic and LeBron James, unlike Draymond Green. As a competitor, the latter was indeed more concerned in his podcast:
Draymond Green: When I saw that the Lakers had just been sold for $10 billion to Mark Walter, you know what I thought? I was like, “Oh man, that makes them even more dangerous.”
According to the Warriors’ star, the Buss family’s limited funds were indeed the Lakers’ only brake, which explains his fear for the future:
Draymond Green: The only thing that limited the Lakers in their ambitions was the fact that Jeanie Buss and the Buss family, on the scale of NBA owners, were among the least wealthy. Now, that’s not to be taken lightly, given that they have a fortune far greater than mine or that of many other people. But the Lakers were their main source of income.
When a franchise is its owner’s main source of income, it is run differently, with fewer risks taken. And yet, the Lakers were one of the few franchises to turn a profit at the end of the Covid season. This is explained by their region-wide broadcast contract, the amount of which is outrageous. But with such a wealthy owner at the helm, that changes everything.
Now Mark Walter can say, “No, I don’t need all those profits back! You can use it to improve the team, recruit that guy… Do what you want with the roster, pay the tax if you have to, I don’t care!” That’s why I think this change of ownership makes the Lakers really dangerous. Now they have the money to match their fame.
