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The buyers of the Los Angeles Lakers are telling prospective investors they expect to nearly triple the basketball team’s valuation within 10 years. That is one of several aggressive financial projections included in an investor presentation being circulated by Thrive Capital, the investment firm helmed by Joshua Kushner, according to a copy reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
A group led by Kushner and former Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger last month struck a deal to purchase the team from finance mogul Mark Walter at a $12.5 billion valuation. In the presentation, the buyers laid out plans to expand the storied National Basketball Association franchise, including through international growth and new opportunities in local media rights. Those moves would help boost the Lakers’ valuation to at least $30 billion in a decade, the buyer group said, assuming that TV and streaming rights double in value. More favorable assumptions for the same period would place the long-term valuation at $62 billion.
The plan outlined by Thrive identifies around $150 million in near-term incremental revenue by 2028. That would come partly by reclaiming roughly 6,000 broker-held season tickets for single-game sales, which would raise average single-game ticket prices from $217 to $361. Lakers ticket prices have already been on the rise, and under Thrive’s plan more of that revenue would go to the team, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Edwin Garcia: The Lakers continue to bolster their training camp roster, adding Meechie Johnson and Chase Ross. They also waived Anton Watson, whom they signed yesterday.
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Wolves GM: Matt Lloyd: "The opportunity came up to sign Jonathan Kuminga, which again was the product of many, many phone calls and a lot of time investment. My wife asked me at one point, how many times has he called you? She was referencing Jonathan Kuminga's agent. How many times have you been on the phone with him since the middle of July? So I said, okay, I will look, and we went through my phone and we had 94 phone calls between July 15th to the day we signed Jonathan. Anthony Edwards was really instrumental in recruiting him to come here. We had several conversations with him, his representatives, and from Chris Finch to Tim Connelly to Alonzo Gee, who is on our staff, everything just came together."
Austin Ainge: "Leadership is different. Sometimes we have a narrow definition, and Keyonte George is a really happy, nice person. He gets along with everybody and he shows up for everybody. He's maybe not a screamer and a yeller type of guy, he's not a taskmaster, he's still very young learning his own way in the league, but he shows up for everybody, he is there for everybody, he is smile and work ethic every day. That's his way of leading and that's awesome."
I know you dealt with some injuries last year. What can we kind of expect out of Zach LaVine this year? Zach LaVine: I had a little hand injury, but every year for me, I go into the offseason, I see what I can do better. I see how I can try to help the team and what what role or what area I'm gonna be fitting in. Obviously, they going to put you in a role that's best case for you. But I'm super excited. It's unfortunate that I had the injury last year, even the season we had, we started off very well. I started off well. But for standards for myself, I have them extremely high so I'm looking forward to this year.
You got to play with Russell Westbrook last year. He called it a career right now. What was it like playing with him? And what did you think of his career as a whole, someone who appears universally loved in the basketball world? Zach LaVine: Russ is one of the best humans I've met. On the court, off the court. The dude has an energy like you've never seen before and I played against him. I came to the league in 2014, a couple years later, I think he won MVP. It was hell trying to guard him when I was younger, especially when I was 19, 20 years old and he's going straight downhill at you. We've had plenty of conversations and we've worked out together and played. But Russ is one of my good friends. My hat's off to him for a hell of a career. He had a lot more to give to basketball too. He could have kept playing, but I'm glad that he that he walked away on his own terms because not everybody gets to do that.
Tony Parker: “The question was how I was going to do it, out of respect for a profession that isn’t easy. I wanted to approach it humbly, because I could have gone straight to the United States. But I love being in France, so I told myself: ‘OK, I’m going back to school.’ And I completed my DES [French advanced coaching qualification]. “It came after a conversation with Thierry Henry and Zizou. Both of them, and especially Zizou, explained to me how much it helped him to start again from zero, to put himself in a position where you make yourself a little vulnerable and build yourself up from there."
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"When it comes to preparation for the game, understanding the game, work ethic for the game, who taught you more? Was it Mike or was it Kobe? Because you played with Kobe on the Lakers as well." Kwame Brown: "I would say Mike because Kobe did like to isolate himself when he worked out. You see it, but it is like you see it in passing. ut you will see him leaving the weight room when you are coming in, and you will see him going out on the court doing his individual stuff. So you get to see him sometimes getting it in, but MJ would do it with you. MJ had the breakfast club. You get to up close and personal see the way he worked, the way he talks, the way he interact with people. So he was a more personable person than Kobe, but he worked just as hard."
Kwame Brown: "I think Kobe worked a little bit harder on defense, and he was obsessing over Michael Jordan a little bit. I remember he would practice carrying the little 45-pound dumbbells all around the court because his hands weren't as big as Michael Jordan. I think that is the only thing that set them apart. Michael Jordan's hands are like mitts. Kobe's hands are regular. So he had to work on his hand strength, so he would walk around the court with these 45-pound dumbbells on each hand, and every morning you see him doing that just to make sure he had his hand strength together. I am like, damn, let me try that too. He would pick up different traits. I never seen somebody do that."
Kwame Brown: "He was terrified of girls after that situation. And he is Kobe Bryant, so he can't even get close to a female because if they do, the tabloids can make it into something that is not. So it would be fans that want a picture because it is female, he can't even say anything to her. He got to walk by. I am like, your life got to suck. I am the bus, but I can talk to all these girls and have a good time. You know, so I am like, so we can't have these girls over and have a drink and you not doing anything and we like, we can't just chill? He was like, no. And I am just sitting there chopping it up with him and I am just listening to his life and I am like, man, that is terrible."
