What does Lakers sale mean for Sonics expansion bid?

Tim Booth, The Seattle Times on Aug 12, 2026

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SEATTLE — Around these parts, numbers that include a 12 have a way of catching your eye or attention. Perhaps it’s just the predominance of seeing them everywhere, especially as fall draws closer.

But the number that included a 12 on Wednesday morning and was quickly garnering national headlines might have grabbed eyeballs in a different way — at least as it pertains to the ongoing efforts to see the NBA back in Seattle.

The Los Angeles Lakers set a new mark for franchise valuations when a group led by former Disney CEO Bob Iger and venture capitalist Josh Kushner purchased a majority stake in the basketball team at a valuation of $12.5 billion. The duo purchased the shares of the franchise owned by Mark Walter, who bought a majority stake in the Lakers only 10 months ago at a valuation of $10 billion.

Talk about a nice profit flip in less than a year.

It’s the richest sale in U.S. pro sports history. It dwarfs the $9.6 billion just agreed to for the sale of the Seahawks.

And it raised the question of whether a number that massive is going to impact the ongoing NBA expansion process and the possibility of seeing the SuperSonics return to Seattle.

Iger was rumored to be kicking the tires on a possible expansion bid in Seattle in early 2025 when the process was in its beginning stages. He then emerged with Kushner as a possible bidder in Las Vegas, one of a handful of groups that emerged.

And now comes this pivot, which might end up costing more, but doesn’t mean starting a franchise from the ground up.

To be clear, the sale of the Lakers shouldn’t impact wherever the final asking price comes in on NBA expansion for both Seattle and Las Vegas. That statement comes with an asterisk, though, as owners will want to squeeze every penny possible out of the expansion process to gain approval. This is their chance at potentially free money with no guarantee the opportunity comes again.

What the price for an expansion fee should be and what owners want it to be can live in two different realms. One reality might say $5 billion or $6 billion is a fair number to charge for a startup organization when compared across the valuations of all NBA teams. Take the Lakers out of the equation and no NBA team has sold for more than the $6.1 billion valuation placed on the Boston Celtics.

Another reality could say something in the $5 billion-$6 billion range is too low and point to the Lakers sale as an example of a price that might not need to be in the same ballpark but at least closer to that neighborhood. Is a fee that starts at $7 billion the baseline?

The concern is if owners squeeze too hard it could lead to groups saying the numbers don’t pencil out from a bottom-line business perspective and the expansion hopes fizzle.

There should be additional clarity next month when the NBA Board of Governors holds its next meetings. Not only will the Lakers sale now be a prominent part of the conversation, but if NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is true to his word that expansion needs to be decided one way or another before the end of the calendar year, then progress needs to be made on that front.

That means deciding on which ownership bid will be coming from Las Vegas, with multiple groups still involved, including separate bids headed by former NBA owner Jerry Colangelo, Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley and Walmart heiress Nancy Walton Laurie.

That also means deciding on whether the league is fine moving ahead without a public bidding competition in Seattle. To date, it remains One Roof Sports and Entertainment as the only known bidder here. While it remains possible that one of the losing bids in Las Vegas could pivot and be an ownership option in Seattle it comes with the potential of delaying the process, raising the overall price and creating even more questions.

Ultimately, it will take 23 owners agreeing to that number to finally push expansion over the finish line. What happened on Wednesday morning with the Lakers shouldn’t change their view.

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