LOS ANGELES -- Mark Walter is the majority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers after the NBA Board of Governors approved his purchase of a controlling stake from the Buss family.

The Lakers and the league confirmed the next step Thursday in a transaction that is expected to close shortly. The sale of the NBA's most valuable franchise was initially announced in June.

Jeanie Buss will remain the Lakers' governor under the deal for at least the next five years, and she will oversee day-to-day operations "for the foreseeable future," the team said. Her father, Jerry Buss, bought the Lakers in 1979.

But the Lakers are now primarily owned by Walter, the billionaire whose TWG Global investment group owns the Los Angeles Dodgers and the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks . The group is also the majori

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