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Buss family to sell Lakers at $10 billion valuation to Dodgers owner Mark Walter

By Joe Vardon, Mike Vorkunov, Fabian Ardaya and Andy McCullough The Buss family has agreed in principle to sell the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most iconic sporting brands in the world, to financier Mark Walter in a deal that values the team at a global record $10 billion, league sources told The Athletic. […]

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Buss family to sell Lakers at $10 billion valuation to Dodgers owner Mark Walter

By Joe Vardon, Mike Vorkunov, Fabian Ardaya and Andy McCullough

The Buss family has agreed in principle to sell the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most iconic sporting brands in the world, to financier Mark Walter in a deal that values the team at a global record $10 billion, league sources told The Athletic.

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“Mark Walter is entering into an agreement to acquire additional interests in the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers, of which he has been a stakeholder since 2021,” a spokesperson for Walter said in a statement to The Athletic.

The sale, which is not yet finalized, could eventually value the team at $12 billion, according to one source with knowledge of the negotiations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the transaction. That would be far more than the $6.1 billion valuation for the Boston Celtics when they were sold in March.

Even at the lower number, the sale would be the largest for any sports team, and it will affect not only how competitive the Lakers can be in the NBA, but also impact the other storied Los Angeles sports team for whom Walter is the controlling owner, the Dodgers.

Jeanie Buss, 63, will remain governor after the sale is complete, a league source said. Her father, Jerry Buss, purchased the Lakers in 1979, and the following year the Lakers were NBA champions, the first of 10 titles they would win under his ownership. With stars like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, the “Showtime” Lakers of the 1980s helped reinvigorate the league’s popularity and made the franchise one of the most popular in sports.

Jeanie Buss has been team governor and controlling owner since 2017, four years after her father died and a legal dispute among his children was settled, allowing her to take control.

The pending sale was first reported by ESPN.

Walter, 65, is chief executive of Guggenheim Partners, a global financial services firm with more than $325 billion in assets. He led the group that bought the Dodgers in 2012 for $2 billion. The franchise has won two World Series titles since and operated as one of the best organizations in professional sports.

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Walter first took a stake in the Lakers in 2021 when he and Todd Boehly bought a 27 percent share of the franchise, then valued at about $5 billion, including a right of first negotiation, according to one source with knowledge of the deal.

Buss bought the Lakers for about $68 million from Jack Kent Cooke, the former owner, in a complex deal that also gave him the Los Angeles Kings and the Forum. The price of the Lakers has gone up drastically since then.

The Lakers have won 17 NBA championships — second only to the Boston Celtics — and have at multiple points employed the “face” of the league, or a player so important professionally and culturally that he transcends any box score. From Wilt Chamberlain to Abdul-Jabbar to Johnson to Shaquille O’Neal to Kobe Bryant to LeBron James, the Lakers added to that impressive list by trading for perennial MVP candidate Luka Dončić last February.

One of those legends, Johnson, who is part of the group with Walter that purchased the Dodgers, expressed his excitement about the Lakers sale.

“Laker fans should be (ecstatic),” Johnson posted to X. “A few things I can tell you about Mark — he is driven by winning, excellence, and doing everything the right way. AND he will put in the resources needed to win! I can understand why Jeanie sold the team to Mark Walter because they are just alike.”

James, who is 40 and has played 22 seasons, is said to be comfortable with the sale, though he is nearing the end of his career.

Dončić, meanwhile, is 26 and eligible for a $229 million contract extension. While paying multiple players a maximum salary has never been an issue for the Lakers, spending outside of the roster occasionally has been problematic for a team with such a strong brand.

The Buss family fortune was largely tied to the Lakers, whereas most owners in the NBA today made their money outside of the sport. The Lakers have, in the past, been more frugal when it comes to paying coaches, front-office executives, buying draft picks in the second round and other ancillary but important functions for running a world-class organization.

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“I’m really excited — now the Lakers will be able to spend like they should spend,” said one league source with ties to the franchise.

Walter’s group, Guggenheim Baseball Management, bought the Dodgers for $2.15 billion in 2012 from owner Frank McCourt, who had driven the club into bankruptcy. Walter outbid a $2 billion offer from Steve Cohen, the future owner of the New York Mets, to secure the club. The group was fronted by Johnson, with former Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals executive Stan Kasten designated as the team president. The Guggenheim investors included film producer Peter Guber and Boehly.

Walter sunk millions into rebuilding the team’s roster, improving its internal infrastructure and renovating Dodger Stadium. The club has not missed the postseason under his guidance, with championships in 2020 and 2024. Along the way, Walter added more sports assets to his portfolio. In 2014, he purchased a stake in the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks. He owns the Professional Women’s Hockey League and has begun investing in motorsports.

“Speaking from (the perspective of) a Dodger employee, he’s very competitive,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s going to do everything he can to produce a championship-caliber team every single year and make sure the city feels proud of the Lakers and the legacy that they’ve already built with the Buss family.”

In 2021, Walter and Boehly added a stake in the Lakers. A year later, Walter joined a Boehly-led group, BlueCo, that overtook Chelsea F.C. The group also owns the French soccer club Strasbourg.

The Dodgers under Guggenheim’s management have seemingly taken their revenues to a different stratosphere with the acquisition of Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani to a 10-year, $700 million deal in December 2023, dramatically shifting their business opportunities abroad as they have opened their last two seasons in South Korea and Japan. They committed approximately $1.4 billion in new salaries in the same offseason when they signed Ohtani, and backed that up with a substantial investment this past winter. Their payroll has remained among the game’s highest, with an expected investment of nearly half a billion dollars in the 2025 Dodgers alone between payroll and expected luxury tax payments.

“Our business is very healthy,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said this past November.

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Ohtani signaled his desire to join the Dodgers was in part because of the ownership group’s investment and stability, attaching himself at the hip to Walter and Friedman through a “key man clause,” meaning that Ohtani could opt out of his deal if either left the organization. With Walter’s purchase of the Lakers, it appears he’s not leaving any time soon.

(Photo: Jevone Moore / Getty Images)

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Lack of talent in 2026 class creates unique recruiting and roster-building strategy for college programs

The summer recruiting period has come to an end, and one of the biggest subjects of conversation around grassroots basketball over the last few months has been the collective strength, or lack thereof, in the rising senior class of 2026. To be clear, the 2026 class is not viewed as a collectively strong class. In many […]

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The summer recruiting period has come to an end, and one of the biggest subjects of conversation around grassroots basketball over the last few months has been the collective strength, or lack thereof, in the rising senior class of 2026.

To be clear, the 2026 class is not viewed as a collectively strong class. In many ways, it is reminiscent of the national class of 2023, which was headlined by the likes of Ron Holland and Isaiah Collier. The lack of star power atop that class led to a relatively weak 2024 NBA Draft. After observing the 2026 recruiting class for the last few years, its clear that the lack of overwhelming talent could have similar implications on the 2027 draft. 

Forward-thinking NBA front offices know the 2027 draft will be weak at the top and have been planning accordingly, even while recognizing that prospects can emerge at various stages, including long after high school. The valuation of draft assets in 2027 are notably lower than say the upcoming 2026 draft, which is viewed as a strong one, or even later ones in 2028 and beyond. 

But what about the implications on college basketball?

The worlds of recruiting and roster construction are vastly different now than they were even just three years ago. It’s still true that the very top prospects often arrive on college campuses with one-and-done expectations. That will again be true with the 2026 group of freshmen. The complicating factor now is that the top-ranked prospects are also expecting premium NIL packages. The big question with this class is just how much money college programs can afford to allocate to these potential freshmen who don’t match the level of talent from the last two classes (2024 and 2025).  Based on our scouting and evaluation of the 2026 class, the return on the top-ranked freshman just won’t be the same in terms of production and impact on winning. 

From my standpoint, this class has some highly talented long-term prospects and some prospects who are very impactful players right now. They don’t have many who check both boxes consistently and reliably right now. 

Prospects like Christian CollinsTahj ArizaCameron Williams, and even Tyran Stokes – have tools to intrigue NBA decision makers even if they’re not prepared to drive winning right away as college freshmen. Collins is the glaring example. He’s the No. 4 player in the 2026 class, but there was a game at the Peach Jam where he only scored two points. His ranking is less a reflection of where his game is right now, and more where we believe it can be in the future. 

Others like Jason Crowe Jr.Jordan Smith, and Caleb Holt probably can impact winning right away, but still have major questions about how they could ultimately translate to the highest levels in a couple of years. Crowe is a prolific scorer but lacks ideal size, length, and athleticism. Smith and Holt have all those physical tools, along with ideal intangibles, but need to expand their skill sets. 

No. 1-ranked Stokes is the only prospect in the 2026 class whose talent matches the top end of the last two classes and who can produce at a similar elite level when he gets going. But Stokes is still inconsistent and isn’t nearly as reliable when it comes to driving winning. Paired with another five-star in Crowe Jr., Stokes and the Oakland Soldiers went 3-2 at the Peach Jam and didn’t even make it out of pool play.

So as the college bluebloods recruit the 2026 class and make financial decisions that impact the entire roster, they have some tough calls to make. College staffs have to weigh the risk and the reward of taking the type of talent who could very possibly underperform relative to their ranking and still get drafted, versus the type who could make an instant impact in college but not have the draft outcome that their ranking normally correlates to.

Ultimately, I’m just not sure you can make a Final Four relying primarily on so-called one-and-done talent in this class. Those players will be costly, eat up too much of the budget, and may not be able to generate the desired immediate return on that investment at the college level. That begs the question – could taking a player ranked outside the top 10 or top 15 who stays two or three years in college be more cost-efficient, productive, and drive winning for more years, be more valuable than spending the money for a one-and-done freshman in the top 10 of the 2026 class?

My expectation is that it just might. So, as counter-intuitive as it may sound, I will not be surprised to see players ranked in the 20s and 30s get more recruitment than players in the top ten. They’ll come at a cheaper price point, still be able to at least contribute right away, and yet be more open-minded to staying for multiple years and growing into bigger roles in time. 

By extension, I think we’ll see programs double down on international markets, the transfer portal, and player retention next spring. Remember, the 2026 NBA Draft looks like a very strong one, so getting players to return for another year could be mutually beneficial for both the individual and collective program.

The college recruitment of high school players has changed drastically over the last few seasons, none more so than what we are seeing for the 2026 cycle. Revenue share, NIL, and the transfer portal play an increasingly large role in how teams construct rosters, creating a direct impact on high school recruiting as well. The lack of high-end talent within the top 10, the strategy and approach that colleges use for this cycle, will be more interesting to track.





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USC top recruit Alijjah Arenas needs surgery for knee injury and will be out 6 to 8 months

Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Alijah Arenas ‘ college basketball career is on hold before the highly touted freshman has played his first game. He was diagnosed with a knee injury that will require surgery and rehab is expected to take at least six to eight months, the school said Wednesday. “Alijah is a […]

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Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Alijah Arenas ‘ college basketball career is on hold before the highly touted freshman has played his first game.

He was diagnosed with a knee injury that will require surgery and rehab is expected to take at least six to eight months, the school said Wednesday.

“Alijah is a tremendous worker, teammate, competitor, and person,” USC coach Eric Musselman. “He is understandably disappointed that he will not be able to take the court to start the season, but his health is our No. 1 priority. We have no doubt that he will come back even stronger. We look forward to supporting him during this process.”

Arenas, whose father Gilbert played in the NBA, was involved in a car crash that left him in an induced coma in April.

He crashed his Tesla Cybertruck into a tree, smoke filled the front cabin and the doors wouldn’t open. He spent nearly 10 minutes in the burning vehicle before bystanders helped pull him to safety.

Arenas was in the hospital for six days but did not suffer major injuries.

He is a five-star recruit and 2025 McDonald’s All-American. The 2024 John R. Wooden High School Player of the Year is also the top scorer in CIF LA City Section history, accumulating 3,002 points in three years of high school.

___

AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball





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Fixx Nutrition Penetrates Us Market With Exclusive Distribution Deal With The Feed

Australian sports nutrition brand, Fixx Nutrition, has recently entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with the US-based e-commerce platform, The Feed. This partnership marks a significant stride in Fixx Nutrition’s global expansion strategy. Accessing a New Market Under this partnership, Fixx Nutrition will be able to tap into a vast endurance nutrition market. Its range […]

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Fixx Nutrition Penetrates Us Market With Exclusive Distribution Deal With The Feed

Australian sports nutrition brand, Fixx Nutrition, has recently entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with the US-based e-commerce platform, The Feed. This partnership marks a significant stride in Fixx Nutrition’s global expansion strategy.

Accessing a New Market

Under this partnership, Fixx Nutrition will be able to tap into a vast endurance nutrition market. Its range of all-natural performance products will be made available to a broader audience of American athletes.

Co-founder of Fixx Nutrition, Jan Buchegger, expressed his excitement about the partnership, stating it as one of the most important milestones for the company since its inception. The sole reason being it opens up access to the world’s single largest marketplace for endurance athletes, namely, the United States.

Buchegger also anticipates a surge in Fixx Nutrition’s growth and sales figures due to this agreement. The brand expects to cater to a new wave of demand originating from the US market.

About Fixx Nutrition

Established in 2017 by Jan and Michelle Buchegger, Fixx Nutrition has gained considerable recognition for its standout product, CrampFix. This product offers swift and natural relief from muscle cramps. Fixx Nutrition’s product range is favored by many high-profile teams and athletes worldwide, including the New Zealand and England cricket teams, the Wallabies, the Springboks, and athletes participating in triathlon, cycling, AFL, and running disciplines.

In the previous year, the company extended its Fuel X range by introducing three summer-inspired flavors: Raspberry, Wild Berry, and Orange.

Questions & Answers

What does the partnership between Fixx Nutrition and The Feed entail?
The partnership allows Fixx Nutrition access to The Feed’s extensive US-based market, which is one of the largest endurance nutrition markets globally.

What impact will this partnership have on Fixx Nutrition’s brand growth?
This partnership is anticipated to significantly increase Fixx Nutrition’s growth and sales as it enables the brand to tap into new demand from the US market.

What is Fixx Nutrition’s signature product?
Fixx Nutrition’s flagship product is CrampFix, which offers quick and natural relief from muscle cramps.

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Racer Baseball Honored by ABCA For Team Academic Honor

Murray State baseball is part of the honors given for the 2024-25 American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Team Academic Excellence Award, as announced by the ABCA from their home office in Greensboro, North Carolina. The ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award honors all levels of collegiate and high school baseball. A team that has a GPA 3.0, […]

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Murray State baseball is part of the honors given for the 2024-25 American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Team Academic Excellence Award, as announced by the ABCA from their home office in Greensboro, North Carolina.

The ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award honors all levels of collegiate and high school baseball. A team that has a GPA 3.0, or higher makes the team.

 

The Racers achieved at a high level in the classroom as they did on the field in the 2025 season. Under the leadership of Murray State head coach Dan Skirka and his staff, the Racers advanced to the program’s first College World Series appearance in 86 seasons of the program, after winning the Missouri Valley Conference regular season championship, MVC tournament championship and both the Oxford Regional and Durham Super Regional in the NCAA Tournament.

 

Skirka was named to the Mike Martin Award by the National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and he was the MVC Coach of the Year.  Additionally, he was the ABCA Co-Midwest Coach of the Year.

 

Founded in 1945, the ABCA has more than 15,000 members represent all 50 states and 41 countries. Since its initial meeting of 27 college baseball coaches in June 1945, Association membership has broadened to include nine divisions: NCAA Division I, II and III, NAIA, NJCAA, Pacific Association Division, High School, Youth and Travel Baseball.

 

Follow the Racers on Twitter (@MSURacers), Instagram (@RacersAthletics) and Facebook to stay up-to-date on all that is happening with Murray State Athletics. Follow MSU Baseball on Twitter (@MSUBaseball) and on Instagram.

 



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Coaches wait for key decision to learn whether they can keep NIL promises

LAS VEGAS — Next week, college football coaches can put the recruiting promises they have made to high school seniors on paper. Then the question becomes whether they can keep them. Uncertainty about a key element of the $2.8-billion NCAA antitrust settlement that is reshaping college sports has placed recruiters on a tightrope. They need […]

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Coaches wait for key decision to learn whether they can keep NIL promises

LAS VEGAS — Next week, college football coaches can put the recruiting promises they have made to high school seniors on paper.

Then the question becomes whether they can keep them.

Uncertainty about a key element of the $2.8-billion NCAA antitrust settlement that is reshaping college sports has placed recruiters on a tightrope.

They need clarity about whether the third-party collectives that were closely affiliated with their schools and ruled name, image, likeness payments during the first four years of the NIL era can be used to exceed the $20.5-million annual cap on what each school can now pay players directly. Or, whether those collectives will simply become a cog in the new system.

Only until that issue is resolved will many coaches know if the offers they’ve made, and that can become official Aug. 1, will conform to the new rules governing college sports.

“You don’t want to put agreements on the table about things that we might have to claw back,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day explained at this week’s Big Ten media days. “Because that’s not a great look.”

No coach, of course, is going to fess up to making an offer he can’t back up.

“All we can do is be open and honest about what we do know, and be great communicators from that standpoint,” Oregon’s Dan Lanning said.

Aug. 1 is key because it marks the day football programs can start sending written offers for scholarships to high school prospects starting their senior year.

This process essentially replaces what used to be the signing of a national letter of intent. It symbolizes the changes taking hold in a new era in which players aren’t just signing for a scholarship, but for a paycheck, too.

Paying them is not a straightforward business. Among the gray areas comes from guidance issued earlier this month by the newly formed College Sports Commission in charge of enforcing rules involved with paying players, both through the $20.5-million revenue share with schools and through third-party collectives.

The CSC is in charge of clearing all third-party deals worth $600 or more.

It created uncertainty earlier this month when it announced, in essence, the collectives did not have a “valid business purpose” if their only reason to exist was ultimately to pay players. Lawyers for the players barked back and said that is what a collective was always met to be, and if it sells a product for a profit, it qualifies as legit.

The parties are working on a compromise, but if they don’t reach one they will take this in front of a judge to decide.

With Aug. 1 coming up fast, coaches are eager to lock in commitments they’ve spent months, sometimes years, locking down from high school recruits.

“Recruiting never shuts off, so we do need clarity as soon as we can,” Buckeyes athletic director Ross Bjork said. “The sooner we can have clarity, the better. I think the term ‘collective’ has obviously taken on a life of its own. But it’s really not what it’s called, it’s what they do.”

In anticipating the future, some schools have disbanded their collectives while others, such as Ohio State, have brought them in-house. It is all a bit of a gamble. If the agreement that comes out of these negotiations doesn’t restrict collectives, they could be viewed as an easy way to get around the salary cap. Either way, schools eyeing ways for players to earn money outside the cap amid reports big programs have football rosters worth more than $30 million in terms of overall player payments.

“It’s a lot to catch up, and there’s a lot for coaches and administrators to deal with,” Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti said, noting the terms only went into play on July 1. “But I don’t think it’s unusual when you have something this different that there’s going to be some bumps in the road to get to the right place. I think everybody is committed to get there.”

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti, whose program tapped into the transfer portal and NIL to make the most remarkable turnaround in college football last season, acknowledged “the landscape is still changing, changing as we speak today.”

“You’ve got to be light on your feet and nimble,” he said. “At some point, hopefully down the road, this thing will settle down and we’ll have clear rules and regulations on how we operate.”

At stake at Oregon is what is widely regarded as a top-10 recruiting class for a team that finished first in the Big Ten and made the College Football Playoff last year along with three other teams from the league.

“It’s an interpretation that has to be figured out, and anytime there’s a new rule, it’s how does that rule adjust, how does it adapt, how does it change what we have to do here,” Lanning said. “But one thing we’ve been able to do here is — what we say we’ll do, we do.”

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Big Ten Making Promises Football

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