NBA commissioner Adam Silver has defended the league’s vetting of Mark Walter, saying no warning signs emerged before Walter became the Lakers’ majority owner.
Walter had already been a minority investor before agreeing to purchase the Buss family’s controlling stake at a $10 billion valuation in June 2025.
“I will say at the time that we vetted Mark Walter to be the principal governor of the team, again, he was already a part owner, minority owner in the Los Angeles Lakers. We went through the full process we all do,” Silver said Tuesday. “We spoke to governmental agencies. We spoke to, in the case of Mark Walter, a heavily regulated insurance agency. We spoke to other leagues in which he has investments. We found no red flags.”
Questions later emerged after federal authorities seized Walter’s phone and computer in September 2025 amid an investigation into his businesses. He was approved as Lakers majority owner the following month.
Less than a year later, Walter agreed to sell the majority stake to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger at a record $12.5 billion valuation.
“Even to this day, as you know, these are – call them allegations,” Silver added. “There are issues that are now being looked into. Independent of Mark Walter choosing to sell his team right now, he was not being investigated by our league. I don’t know what’s happening in other leagues right now … I had no prior notion that he was intending to sell his team until I heard from the buyers that they had a handshake with him.”
Federal prosecutors in New York and the SEC are conducting separate investigations, while Walter’s TWG Global has denied wrongdoing.
Silver maintained that the NBA takes ownership reviews seriously but acknowledged that the league continually looks for ways to improve the process.
“We also talk to as many people as we can find who have knowledge about these people. We do interviews. But beyond that, I will say we’re always reassessing to see if we can do more. In fairness to the parties involved, even Mark Walter, as we sit here, I know no more about him than we did when we vetted him. I read newspaper articles. In fairness to him, I don’t know where those investigations are going to come out. I don’t know where any government inquiries are going to come out. We’re always seeing if we can do things better. I don’t see a trend or some widespread issue certainly among our principal owners that gives me cause for concern.”
