Rumors

During a recent offseason interview, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts offered an olive branch to Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton, who was supposed to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Milwaukee Brewers game back in 2024. However, it was canceled after the Pacers eliminated the Milwaukee Bucks in the playoffs. Roberts ended up asking Haliburton if he wanted to throw out the first pitch at Dodger Stadium when Los Angeles faces the Brewers as a little form of revenge.

dodgersnation.com

Dave Roberts: “As a back-to-back champion, we got the Brewers in August this summer. And I know Tyrese isn’t gonna be working. So I want to take make amends with throwing up the first hit. I’d like to offer him the first pitch at Dodger Stadium, and he can rock that Ohtani jersey in its rightful place. So if you’re willing, the offer is there for you. It’s from the Dodgers to you, Tyrese.”

dodgersnation.com

Farhan Zaidi and Andrew Friedman, two key executives with the Los Angeles Dodgers, have taken on advisory roles with the Los Angeles Lakers as part of the ownership transition from the Buss family to Mark Walter, multiple sources told ESPN. Zaidi, currently a special adviser to the Dodgers and renowned for his analytics background, is functioning as Walter's representative in helping with the transition, sources close to the situation said.

ESPN

Friedman, the president of baseball operations with the Dodgers, has played a lesser role. He mostly consults with Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka, sources said. Friedman has helped the Dodgers win three of the past six World Series. Both the Lakers and Dodgers are expected to become part of TWG Sports, the entity Walter created to oversee all his sports holdings. As such, Zaidi and Friedman are acting as senior executives of TWG Sports, which is helping with the Lakers after the sale of the team closed last month.

ESPN

Sources said Zaidi has also been consulting with the Los Angeles Sparks. Walter and TWG Sports own the WNBA team as well.

ESPN

And in looking back to when Walter first purchased the Los Angeles Dodgers, this is following a similar script and according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, Walter is expected to take his time in implementing changes within the Lakers: “Well first of all it’s not often you transfer $4.9 billion, own the team and you’re the alternate governor. But that’s what’s gonna happen here. Mark Walter is the alternate governor for the Lakers, now Jeanie Buss remains the governor. And when I talked to Mark about it he said, ‘You know, we’re partners.’ He really values her expertise and that’s very similar actually to what he did when he bought the Dodgers. He didn’t come in and fire everybody. He didn’t come in and start hiring all these new people. He took his time learning the business, evaluating everyone who was there. Remember Don Mattingly was the manager, he stayed on for another couple seasons. And Ned Colletti was the general manager, stayed on for another couple of seasons. So I think you’re gonna see them take their time in implementing some changes. But everything is gonna be more addition rather than subtraction. And I think that’s the best way to think about how this moves forward.”

Lakers Nation

The Los Angeles Lakers turned to a familiar face to be the creative director of their preseason hype video: Natalia Bryant. Bryant had a star-studded cast for the "Forever Iconic: Purple and Gold Always" video with Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, Lakers legend Magic Johnson and actor and noted Lakers fan Brenda Song all having a role. Celebrity jacket designer Jeff Hamilton also made an appearance.

ESPN

The Los Angeles Dodgers celebrated the legacy of Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant on Friday night with a bobblehead night ahead of their matchup with the Toronto Blue Jays. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who took over in 2016 during Bryant’s final year in the NBA, has seen up close exactly what Kobe means to the city of L.A. He was there when Bryant had a 60-point game to end his career, for countless appearances at Dodger Stadium in the years after his retirement as well as when the legend tragically passed away in Jan. 2020. It’s almost inarguable that Kobe’s impact on the city of L.A. is greater than any other athlete to don the city’s name on their uniform. With Friday night being Kobe Bryant Bobblehead Night in Los Angeles, Roberts spoke about the legend’s impact on the city, the sports world and recalls his visits to Dodger Stadium.

Lakers Nation

“His legacy is alive and well,” Roberts said. “It’s just great for the girls and Vanessa to still be a part of this. What Kobe did for the city of Los Angeles has obviously impacted a lot of us, myself. When he came here, he was a fan. I think he liked to watch the best players. He was a baseball fan, kind of seated in the dugout seats, locked in on pitches and things like that. “I’m just grateful he took the time to come here, because with his celebrity, schedule, he didn’t need to come here. But he wanted to support another Los Angeles ballclub. He was L.A. all day. This is very anticipated, and again, I give Vanessa and her family a lot of credit for continuing to work with us and partner with the Dodgers. It’s tough, it’s emotional.”

Lakers Nation

The 2024 World Series might have been short, but the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees still proved they can draw viewers. Especially in Japan. This year's Fall Classic averaged 12.1 million viewers in the home country of Dodgers stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, MLB announced Friday. That's a larger audience than the 11.3 million viewers the 2024 NBA Finals averaged earlier this year, when the Boston Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks.

Yahoo! Sports

A year ago, as the 2022 NBA Finals began, news broke that Knight and Alan Smolinisky, a real-estate investor and minority owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, had offered $2 billion to buy the Trail Blazers, one of the estate’s most valuable assets. The 85-year-old Knight is concerned about the future of Portland—his hometown which has recently been beset by social problems—and he wants to cement the team’s future there, according to people familiar with Knight and Smolinisky’s plans.

Wall Street Journal

With team values potentially reaching historic levels -- there is a belief within league leadership a potential Suns sale will break the $3 billion barrier -- the reality is there might be a shallower pool of individual buyers at such price points, team sales advisers told ESPN. There remain some interested billionaires in such a market. There was a group of bidders willing to go to the $4 billion mark on the recently sold Denver Broncos, and none were Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who has since been linked to a possible bid for the Commanders. There were also multiple American groups that bid for Chelsea FC, which sold for more than $5 billion to a group led by Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Lakers co-owner Todd Boehly.

The Athletic

LeBron James: Rest in Power. A City of Angels icon. Another great one who made sports so damn special. #LoveLA

Twitter

Chelsea is one of the most popular—and most valuable—soccer clubs in the world, and it has attracted interest from billionaires on all six inhabited continents. Notable names that have been reported as interested, or that have publicly discussed bids, include hedge fund giant Ken Griffin, Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts, Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé, the Saudi Media Company, English businessman Martin Broughton, Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, British real estate tycoon Nick Candy, Philadelphia 76ers co-owner Josh Harris, and notable sports investor Todd Boehly, whose portfolio includes minority stakes in the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Lakers.

Sportico