FILE - Los Angeles Dodgers owner and chairman Mark Walter speaks during a ceremony to honor the Major League Baseball 2024 World Series Champion team in the East Room of the White House, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

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.

Player has cancer

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma City Thunder guard Nikola Topic has been diagnosed with testicular cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy.

Sam Presti, the team’s general manager, announced this on Thursday. Topic, a first-round pick in 2024, had a testicular procedure earlier in the month and was expected to be out for at least four weeks. Presti said doctors are “extremely positive” about his long-term outlook.

Topic has been working out throughout the process and didn’t want the diagnosis revealed until after he started treatment.