What could've been, the time Dr. Jerry Buss rejected 1B for the LA Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers became what they are today thanks to the purchase of the franchise in the late 70s by Dr. Jerry Buss. A dynasty was made thanks to the showtime Lakers.

Buss had the vision and signed Magic Johnson, who alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar went on to win five NBA championship titles and created the purple and gold dynasty.

In a recent appearance on The Athletic NBA Show podcast, Jeanie Buss revealed that her father was offered a huge fee for the club two decades ago and also discussed the funny reason why he turned it down.

“I remember the first time he was offered a billion dollars for the Lakers and that was maybe 2003 or 2004, after the 3-peat that we had. He just was so shocked by that and couldn’t even imagine the team being worth that much. But he said ‘You know, Jeanie, the problem with that is that’s so much money. I would get the money and people would say what are you going to do with all that money? The first thing I’d want to do is buy the Lakers.’”

What the Lakers franchise is worth today

To Dr. Buss’ credit, he was always willing to spend on the team and was a great owner from the moment he joined the league. And because of that, the valuation of the franchise continued to rise. Now, the franchise is worth multiple billions of dollars. In 2003 or 2004, though, a $1 billion sale would have been enormous. However, even with inflation, it would not be anything close to what the franchise is worth nowadays. Today, the team is valued at 6.44 billion dollars.