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Hacksaw’s Thursday Podcast-1:30-pm
You Tube Channel-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
Hot Topics on the Table-Stay for Fans Forum
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“LAKERS-CHANGING OF THE GUARD”
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The NBA off season has not yet begun, but we now have the story that has stolen the entire off season.
The LA Lakers have been sold. The Buss family, which brought us Showtime, 12-championships, Kobe and Shaq, and more recently LeBron and Luka, have sold the legacy franchise.
Jerry Buss bought the team in 1979, signed every glittering star player out there, won those rings, and on his death, turned it over to his daughter Jeannie to run. Here came Phil Jackson, with all his Chicago Bulls rings, and then the galaxy of more star players.
But this is not her father’s Lakers team anymore. Jeannie’s version of the Lakers has just 1-NBA ring, and only 6-winning seasons in the last 13-years.
GMs have come and gone. The coaching turnover has been staggering. There are no home grown stars there anymore. And the legacy roster is made up of guys who came from other teams, the latest being Luka Doncic and LeBron James.
The Lakers, with all its banners and glitter, don’t seem to be the lure they were once upon a time,, but that might be about to change. Salary cap-Luxury Tax be damned, the incoming owners may well run the franchise differently.
Mark Walter, who runs TWG-Capital, purchased the Lakers for a record (10B) from the Buss estate. The same Mark Walter, who led Guggenheim Investments to buy the Dodgers out of the bankruptcy grasp of Frank McCourt.
and the rest is baseball history.
The Dodgers have a World Series ring, 11-NL West titles. They have had a record 1B-in revenues. They have spent a high water (380M) this year in baseball payroll. They signed Shohei Ohtani to a record (700M) contract. They established an all time high 1B-revenue this past season. And they have invested over (500M) in renovations at the historic Dodgers Stadium.
They also own the legendary Chelsea soccer team, and the Cadillac F-1 newly formed racing team.
That’s a pretty good track record.
So it is apparent the Lakers will embark on a different era with new leadership, deeper pockets, and a history of enormous business and sports success.
Yes, Jeannie Buss will remain on as the Lakers rep on the Board of Governors. Yes GM-Rob Pelinka just signed a contract extension. JJ Redick is still here as coach. There is still LeBron James’ contract, the Doncic extension is coming, and there are hardly any draft picks in the cupboard to improve the team.
But Mark Walter’s resume is spectacular and tomorrow’s new leadership could be very different from the way the franchise operated yesterday.
The Lakers sale knocked the Oklahoma City-Indiana Pacers off the front pages and off the big topics of NBA sportstalk.
The top two franchises in the LA Sports Market are the Lakers and Dodgers. And they are now both under the banner of Mark Walter’s leadership.
Stay tuned to see where all this goes. Indeed a changing of the guard in LA.
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It’s time to get out the broom and clean house. Like their plan with the Dodgers, they need to find a great GM that is willing to tell Clutch to GTFO. Bring in an analytics team and head coach that actually has a system and a plan. Then, actually build a team not a collection of stars.