The Los Angeles Lakers are under contract to change hands at $12.5 billion, a price that instantly rewrites the benchmark for every franchise in the league. Mark Walter, who took control only last October at a $10 billion valuation, has agreed to sell to a group led by Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger. If the Board of Governors approves, the transaction values the team at roughly twenty times projected 2025-26 revenue, the highest revenue multiple ever recorded for a controlling interest in an NBA asset.
CNBC model lifts league average
CNBC’s proprietary transaction database, updated to reflect the pending deal, now places the average team value at $6.68 billion. That is a 21 percent increase from the February publication. The model incorporates historical sale prices, revenue multiples, arena economics, market size and investor demand. Revenue and EBITDA inputs remain those reported for the 2024-25 season.
Warriors hold top spot at $13 billion
Golden State retains the highest valuation at $13 billion, up from $10.8 billion in February. The Lakers, by definition, now sit at $12.5 billion. The largest percentage gains since the last update belong to the New York Knicks and the Chicago Bulls, each rising 26 percent. Both franchises benefit disproportionately from the revised multiple given their market scale and arena economics.
Structure details remain sparse
The source material does not disclose the cash-versus-equity split, any earnout provisions, or a break fee. Walter’s original acquisition structure, how much of the $10 billion valuation was debt, how much was rolled equity, is also absent from the public record. Until the proxy filing arrives, the leverage embedded in the new price is speculative.
What to watch next
Governors’ approval is the immediate gate. After that, the next transaction, whether a minority stake in a large market or a control sale in a smaller one, will test whether the twenty-times multiple holds or proves unique to the Lakers’ scarcity, media rights upside and Hollywood adjacency.