Tens of billions of dollars change hands! The Bass family withdraws from the Lakers, and an era in the NBA ends

NBA team ownership has never been so glamorous until the Bass family emerged in Los Angeles, and they changed our traditional view of sports.

Lakers Girls, Forum Clubs, Performance Moments - It all started with Jerry Buss, Jenny Buss and Magic Johnson, the ultimate conductor. When the Buss family took over the Lakers in 1979, the Magic was selected on the West Coast, and Larry Bird joined the Boston Celtics, the NBA changed forever. This opened the age and became the catalyst for all successes of the league since then.

The Bass family reportedly reached an agreement on Wednesday to sell the Lakers to Mark Walter, CEO of TWGGlobal, who also owns the Los Angeles Dodgers. This feels to some extent marks the end of an era.

Jenny Buss will continue to serve as the team's chairman, but who knows how things will change over time, according to ESPN. Mark Cuban also thought he could still play the same role after selling the Mavericks to the Adelson and Dumont families, but he had already found himself losing real power before his influence on the team in the Doncic trade disappeared.

Nevertheless, there has always been a sense of mystery around the Bass family in the basketball world, which has never really existed before, and has only resonated in a few other places since sports became a big business. It is true that everyone knows who Jerry Jones is, and George Steinbrenner was a powerful figure in New York, but at least Jenny Buss seemed very approachable during the game. You will see the ticket-holder come forward to talk to her, and she will shake hands cordially with some big-name stars sitting on the sidelines. Even if she is not really accessible to ordinary fans, she makes people feel very close. And usually, no one cares who the team owner is.

Many times, bosses become villains because fans are dissatisfied with the operation of management, the decisions of coaches, or the contracts of players. It's usually just "pay money" and don't get in the way - to be honest, for some teams, it's still the case, and it's understandable that fans feel.

But when Jerry Bass walks into the arena with his arms around the beauty, you know who he is. In Los Angeles in the 1980s, it all felt very much in line with the LA temperament when the team blended with Hollywood.

The Lakers were once a family business, which is why this sale seems to be natural to some extent. The teams that have changed hands in the past 10 to 15 years are no longer the kind of husband-and-wife shops in the Stern era. Today is venture capitalist, private equity, and even a few years ago sovereign wealth fund invested in the Washington Wizards. The team's valuation and operating costs are already ridiculously high, which means you'd better have your own capital outside of the NBA.

Since the 2011 labor-capital agreement, nearly half of the NBA teams—as many as 14—have changed hands. This has given birth to a sky-high TV broadcasting rights contract, and owning an NBA team has not only become very fashionable, but has also become a very smart business.

According to Forbes' data in November last year, the average valuation of NBA teams has reached $4.4 billion. The $10 billion figure will only further push up the average, and the expected upcoming coalition expansion.

When you think back to that golden age, now only the Reinsdorf family is left, Jerry and his son Michael are still running the team. And the Reinsdorf family — given all their investments in the Chicago West Circle over the past 20 years — sells the Bulls is extremely doubtful and even arguably impossible.

They are still a money tree. Several team owner sources contacted by Yahoo Sports were not surprised by Jenny Buss’ sale of the Lakers, pointing to record prices and the fact that Jenny was the last person in the Buss family to want to keep the team. Apparently, the other siblings had long wanted to sell, and in the end, Jenny gave in.

So, over the past 12 months, the two most iconic teams - the Lakers and the Celtics - have found new owners, and the new bosses seem to be more financially strong than their predecessors. Moreover, neither the Lakers nor the Celtics own stadiums, but they only operate as tenants in the stadiums, yet their value breaks records in every transaction. The times have changed, and as long as the NBA bubble does not burst, this change will continue.

Over time, the appearance and feeling of the alliance have also quietly changed.

(text/mango)