The Los Angeles Lakers are under new ownership, and the headline is that the team is owned by Dodgers owner Mark Walter. However, a closer look at the situation reveals that the Lakers are (at least partially) indirectly owned by an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund.
In April 2025, TWG Global and Mubadala Capital announced an investment partnership that involved Mubadala Capital investing $10 billion into TWG Global as part of a $15 billion equity raise. Mubadala Capital is the alternative asset branch of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund. TWG Global is a holding company of which Walter is the CEO. TWG Global owns multiple sports assets, such as the Dodgers, Lakers, Sparks (WNBA) and the Professional Women’s Hockey League.
A month and a half later, there was an announcement that the Lakers had sold for $10 billion.
Let’s do some quick math: TWG Global gets an investment of $10 billion from Abu Dhabi’s wealth fund. A month and a half later, TWG Global buys the Lakers at a $10 billion valuation.
The NBA allows has rules governing the type of foreign ownership for teams. Current rules cap ownership from sovereign funds at 20% for any single NBA team. The argument can be made that Abu Dhabi’s fund has ownership in all of TWG Global’s assets, and no more than $2 billion was used for the Lakers. But the $10 billion figure seems striking.
Also consider this — the NBA is collaborating with Abu Dhabi on a global academy, the United Arab Emirates city announced on Thursday.
We’re extending our long-term collaboration with the NBA, launching the NBA Global Academy in Abu Dhabi and expanding youth and community basketball programmes across the emirate.@NBA pic.twitter.com/lNu8yRfT3z
— Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (@dctabudhabi) January 22, 2026
Hmm, does that seem to be coincidental? It sure seems like the NBA and Abu Dhabi are working together on things.
Here is Brian Windhorst talking about how the Lakers were bought with Middle East money.
