LOS ANGELES >> The Los Angeles Lakers, a family-run business since Dr. Jerry Buss purchased the franchise in 1979, will be sold to Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter and TWG Global, according to multiple people briefed on the deal.

The deal is expected to occur with the Lakers’ valuation being approximately $10 billion.

Walter will now lead the city’s two premiere professional sports teams.

Control of the Lakers following Buss’ 2013 death went into a family trust, with Jeanie Buss operating as the team’s governor. The structure of the trust meant the majority of Buss’ six children would need to agree for a sale to occur.

Jeanie reportedly will remain governor under the terms of the sale. All controlling governors representing teams in league meetings need to own at least 15% of the franchise to serve.

In March, Bill Chisholm purchased the Boston Celtics from Wyc Grousbeck for $6.1 billion. Mark Cuban sold his control of the Dallas Mavericks late in 2023 for $3.5 billion.

And earlier that year, Marc Lasry sold the Milwaukee Bucks for $3.5 billion. Grousbeck and Cuban were two of Jeanie’s closest confidantes among league ownership.

For the Dodgers, Walter’s arrival as owner in 2012 was a saving grace for what was then a floundering team.

When his Guggenheim Baseball group bought the Dodgers from Frank McCourt for $2 billion that year, they not only rescued the franchise from bankruptcy and years of financially hamstrung operations but revitalized an organization in search of a new identity.

The Guggenheim group, led by Walter and fellow businessman Todd Boehly, immediately poured hundreds of millions of dollars into player salaries, clubhouse upgrades and even new scoreboards at an aging Chavez Ravine.