The new part-owner of the Los Angeles Lakers has been rooting for the opps for quite some time now.
Bombshell news broke on Wednesday morning that the Los Angeles Lakers have been sold again in a record-breaking $12.5 billion deal. Majority owner Mark Walter, who bought the franchise just a year ago at a $10 billion valuation, is selling the Lakers to an ownership group led by former Disney CEO Bob Iger and businessman Joshua Kushner (the younger brother of Jared Kushner).
In the wake of the news, an unsightly clip (at least to Lakers fans) of Iger made the rounds on social media. During a 2021 podcast appearance on “The Old Man and the Three,” Iger was interviewed by JJ Redick and Tommy Alter.
During the interview, Iger revealed that he was a longtime fan of the rival LA Clippers. Iger said that he moved from New York to LA in 2000 and decided then to root for the Clippers. The media executive added that he could not root for the Lakers because they were rivals of the New York Knicks, the team that Iger grew up rooting for.
“I’m a Clippers fan. Having moved from New York to Los Angles back in 2000 and being a big NBA fan, I needed a team to root for… Lakers were a big rival of the Knicks, the team I grew up rooting for. So I couldn’t root for the Lakers very easily; just was not in my DNA" pic.twitter.com/oIavYIwQkc
— ۟ (@lectyres) August 12, 2026
Old photos also circulated online Wednesday showing Iger sitting courtside at Clippers games next to their owner Steve Ballmer.
The 75-year-old Iger has a longstanding relationship with the NBA, serving as an instrumental figure in the making of the league’s 2020 bubble in Orlando, Fla. and also once being linked to a potential pursuit of a different Western Conference team. But with Iger now set to become a majority owner of the Lakers, he may first have to atone for his Clippers fandom before fully being accepted by the purple and gold fanbase.
