Joey and Jesse Buss buy a Padres stake
Joey and Jesse Buss’s Buss Sports Capital has joined the San Diego Padres’ new ownership group, the brothers announced Wednesday. ESPN sources put the stake in the neighborhood of 5%. They will sit on the ownership advisory board.
The Padres’ controlling sale to Kwanza Jones and José E. Feliciano closed last week at a reported $3.9 billion valuation. Buss Sports Capital launched after the family sold its Lakers majority to Mark Walter last year. ESPN reports the brothers are also still pursuing a stake in the upcoming NBA Europe league.
The timing overlaps the family fight over the Lakers’ remaining roughly 17.8% share. Jeanie Buss is asking a court to block her siblings from selling that stake. Those claims remain unadjudicated. Walter also owns the Dodgers, so the brothers’ Padres investment puts them across town from his other club.
ESPN · The Athletic · CBS Sports
After Kuminga, the fifth starter is likely already on the roster
Jonathan Kuminga’s two-year Timberwolves agreement, reported Wednesday, closed the Lakers’ two-month wing pursuit. The New York Post’s Khobi Price, writing Thursday, says a starting-caliber wing is no longer sitting in free agency, the Lakers lack the draft capital for a big trade, and the fifth starter is likely already on the team.
They still have work. Multiple reports have Los Angeles at 16 guaranteed standard contracts, one over the 15-man regular-season limit. Cuts or a trade are due by opening night (Oct. 21). Training camp is about a month away.
Silver Screen and Roll’s Jacob Rude, in a Thursday night mailbag, does not expect another signing. He does expect the front office to keep looking for a trade. If it comes to a cut, he puts Dalton Knecht or Jaden Hardy first in line. That is analysis, not a team announcement.
The Timberwolves still need a roster move of their own (Josh Green, via trade or a waive-and-stretch) before Saturday’s stretch deadline to fit Kuminga. That deal is agreed, not yet completed.
New York Post · Silver Screen and Roll · Associated Press
McMenamin: nothing points to Luka walking
Asked whether 2026-27 could be Luka Dončić’s last season in Los Angeles, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin wrote Thursday that nothing points that way. He cited the incoming Kushner-Iger ownership still building around Dončić, plus the six-figure Slovenia minicamp Dončić hosted for teammates.
Dončić signed a three-year extension in August 2025, with a player option for 2028-29. Bleacher Report notes an ESPN summer-forecast panel scored “no” 20 points to “yes” 4 on this being his last Lakers season. That is a prediction, not a contract or trade report.