{"id":509654,"date":"2026-08-13T08:45:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T06:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/?p=509654"},"modified":"2026-08-13T08:45:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T06:45:10","slug":"kyle-kuzma-questions-lakers-sale-nobody-flips-a-crown-jewel-in-14-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/kyle-kuzma-questions-lakers-sale-nobody-flips-a-crown-jewel-in-14-months\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyle Kuzma questions Lakers sale: &#8220;Nobody flips a crown jewel in 14 months&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"flex max-w-full flex-col gap-4 grow\">\n<div class=\"min-h-8 text-message relative flex w-full flex-col items-end gap-2 text-start break-words whitespace-normal outline-none keyboard-focused:focus-ring [.text-message+&amp;]:mt-1\" dir=\"auto\" tabindex=\"0\" data-message-author-role=\"assistant\" data-message-id=\"ab0271e7-d653-41a6-aa4d-d07b7567ab67\" data-turn-start-message=\"true\" data-message-model-slug=\"gpt-5-6\">\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-col gap-1 empty:hidden\">\n<div class=\"markdown prose dark:prose-invert wrap-break-word w-full light markdown-new-styling\">\n<p class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\" data-start=\"2703\" data-end=\"3086\">Former Los Angeles Lakers forward <strong data-start=\"2737\" data-end=\"2751\">Kyle Kuzma<\/strong> didn&#8217;t hide his surprise after learning the franchise is changing hands once again. Reacting on X, Kuzma wrote: <strong data-start=\"2864\" data-end=\"2934\">&#8220;Nobody flips a crown jewel in 14 months because it&#8217;s going well,&#8221;<\/strong> raising questions about why Mark Walter would sell one of the world&#8217;s most valuable sports franchises so quickly.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"560\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Nobody flips a crown jewel in 14 months because its gong well\ud83e\udd2f <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LtjucZ08Ax\">https:\/\/t.co\/LtjucZ08Ax<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 kuz (@kylekuzma) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/kylekuzma\/status\/2087663829509607761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 12, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"3088\" data-end=\"3453\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/lakers-sold-in-72-hours\/\">Walter agreed to purchase a controlling stake in the Lakers from the Buss family in 2025<\/a> at a valuation of roughly <strong data-start=\"3203\" data-end=\"3218\">$10 billion<\/strong>. Now, just 14 months later, he has agreed to <a href=\"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/los-angeles-lakers-set-for-record-sale-worth-more-than-12-billion\/\">sell the team to <strong data-start=\"3281\" data-end=\"3293\">Bob Iger<\/strong> and <strong data-start=\"3298\" data-end=\"3314\">Josh Kushner<\/strong> for a record <strong data-start=\"3328\" data-end=\"3345\">$12.5 billion<\/strong><\/a>, a deal that still requires approval from the NBA Board of Governors.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"3455\" data-end=\"3757\">The rapid turnaround has sparked widespread speculation across the NBA, particularly as Walter&#8217;s business empire remains under federal scrutiny. While no charges have been filed, the timing of the sale has fueled questions about the reasons behind the transaction.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"3759\" data-end=\"4109\">Kuzma&#8217;s comments carry extra significance because of his history with the organization. Drafted in 2017, he spent his first four NBA seasons with the Lakers and played a key role in the team&#8217;s <strong data-start=\"3952\" data-end=\"3977\">2020 NBA championship<\/strong>, averaging <strong data-start=\"3989\" data-end=\"4034\">15.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists<\/strong> across 276 games in purple and gold.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"4111\" data-end=\"4432\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">In 2021, Kuzma was traded to the Washington Wizards as part of the blockbuster deal that brought <strong data-start=\"4208\" data-end=\"4229\">Russell Westbrook<\/strong> to Los Angeles. Despite his departure, he has repeatedly expressed how much his Lakers years meant to him, saying he will always be &#8220;cemented as a Lakers champion.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"z-0 flex min-h-[46px] justify-start\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-3 w-full empty:hidden has-[&gt;_:empty]:hidden\">\n<div class=\"text-center\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"inline-flex border border-gray-100 dark:border-gray-700 rounded-xl\">\n<div class=\"bg-token-main-surface-tertiary w-px flex-1 self-stretch\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The former Lakers champion cast doubt on Mark Walter&#8217;s decision to sell the franchise to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner just over a year after taking control.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":509653,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_spbk_hide_featured":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[92],"tags":[],"rumors":[],"typology":[],"posizionamento":[],"class_list":["post-509654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/08\/Kyle_Kuzma_2018_cropped.jpg","digistream_id":0,"digistream":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/145"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509654"},{"taxonomy":"rumors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rumors?post=509654"},{"taxonomy":"typology","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/typology?post=509654"},{"taxonomy":"posizionamento","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posizionamento?post=509654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}