Lakers minority owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong not selling stake in team

Lakers minority owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong reportedly has no intention of selling his 4% stake in the team following Bob Iger and Josh Kushner purchasing the franchise from Mark Walter last week for a record-breaking $12.5 billion.

“Dr. Patrick is absolutely not selling his minority share of the Lakers,” Chuck “Tiger” Kenworthy, the Soon-Shiong family attorney, told ESPN on Thursday. “Bob Iger and Josh Kushner are good friends, and we will be joining them as supportive, active and engaged partners once they close the transaction with Mr. Walter. We are extremely excited about the Lakers’ future and look forward to many more championship years.”

Los Angeles Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong (left) and his wife, Michele B. Chan, attend the NBA game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Friday, Feb. 23, 2018. (EPA) EPA

The 74-year-old Soon-Shiong purchased his stake in the franchise from Lakers legend Magic Johnson in 2010.

Soon-Shiong is a surgeon and businessman who’s renowned for inventing a drug used for lung, breast and pancreatic cancer called Abraxane. He’s also the owner and executive chairman of the Los Angeles Times.

The Lakers have been sold twice in the last 10 months. The Buss family sold the Lakers to Mark Walter in October 2025 for $10 billion, before Walter stunningly sold the team to former Disney CEO Iger and venture capitalist Kushner. The deal is still pending approval from the NBA Board of Governors.

The Buss family, which has a 17.8% remaining ownership stake in the team, is currently embroiled in a battle over their share. Five of the Buss siblings voted to sell, while Jeanie Buss, the Lakers’ governor, is contesting the sale.

Patrick Soon-Shiong, chief executive officer of NantKwest Inc., speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, California, on Monday, Jan. 13, 2020. NantKwest shares rose by a record after Soon-Shiong said its experimental cancer therapy had shown a dramatic result in one patient with pancreatic cancer during an early-stage clinical trial. (Bloomberg via Getty Images) Bloomberg via Getty Images

Under NBA rules, a governor must hold at least a 15% stake in the franchise.