The Lakers and Dodgers’ synergy will only become stronger now that Mark Walter owns both franchises. Now that the sale of the Lakers has officially been approved, we are seeing how that’s going to work.
In an ESPN article, Ramona Shelburne reported
that Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi will take on advisory roles with the Lakers. Both of them have worked with the Dodgers and will be helping with this transition of power.Zaidi, currently a special adviser to the Dodgers and renowned for his analytics background, is functioning as Walter’s representative in helping with the transition, sources close to the situation said.
Friedman, the president of baseball operations with the Dodgers, has played a lesser role. He mostly consults with Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka, sources said. Friedman has helped the Dodgers win three of the past six World Series.
Later on in the article, Shelburne also reported that the Lakers and Dodgers are expected to become part of TWG Sports, an entity Walter created to oversee all his sports holdings. Beyond the Lakers and Dodgers, Walter also has minority ownership stakes in the Sparks, Chelsea and the Cadillac Formula 1 Team, to name a few.
With Thursday’s shocking firing of Joey and Jesse Buss and now this report on new advisors, it’s clear that things are beginning to change for the Lakers, moving away from being a family-owned business toward becoming part of the Walter empire.
The Dodgers have had tremendous success under Walter, winning three World Series titles in the past six years, and Lakers fans hope he can bring that success to the NBA.
It seems that part of replicating the Dodgers’ success is bringing in people like Friedman and Zaidi, whom Walter trusts to work with the Lakers.
While these are the first significant hires, they certainly will not be the last as Walter begins to oversee everything and decides who he wants in his Lakers organization.
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