Former Disney CEO Bob Iger and venture capitalist Josh Kushner agreed to purchase the Los Angeles Lakers for a record-breaking $12.5 billion from Mark Walter. Many fans aren’t sure what to expect from the new franchise owners. But Stephen A. Smith said there should be no doubt and made a huge claim.

“Their (Disney) market cap was at about 51 billion dollars years ago when the man started. He departed. It was over $252 billion. People could complain. They could talk junk all they want to. I’ve known the man for many years. I mean, please, when you talk about me and where I am today, there’s nobody that I owe more gratitude towards than Bob Iger.

“The man is next level brilliant, a savant as a businessman, and one of, if not the greatest ever, the Michael Jordan of executives, is what I call him. That’s how I feel about him,” Smith said on his YouTube channel. “And he is now the new owner of the Los Angeles Lakers.”

It’s not just Stephen A. Smith praising his former boss. From the television weatherman job in Ithaca to being Disney’s CEO, Bob Iger spent four decades amassing his reported $600 million in wealth. His run of acquisitions, Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Fox, turned Disney’s portfolio for the better.

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In return, he is one of the highest-paid executives in entertainment, earning $45 million. Even Ramon Shellburne on the Stephen A. Smith show explained that Iger was the “trump” card that other expansion teams were keeping an eye on.

“And I think he was the guy that all the groups who were trying to get an expansion team were after. And whoever won was trying to land Bob because he’s an asset. He’s the trump card.”

Shellburne also highlighted that Iger was directly involved with the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders in 2015 regarding a potential relocation to the Los Angeles area. He agreed to work as the non-executive chairman of Carson Holdings LLC, a joint venture to build a $1.7 billion stadium in Carson, California.

Ultimately, the NFL approved the Rams’ rival stadium project in Inglewood instead, which meant Iger didn’t majorly own a sports franchise. But that’s changing with the Lakers situation.

“We immediately decided that given the value of the franchise and the iconic nature of the team, that we would be really smart to pursue it. The deal came together in three days,” Iger told the California Post. “It’s that simple.”

Instead of spending close to $10 billion on the Vegas expansion bid and then spending another few billion to build a stadium, Iger and Kushner moved toward acquiring the Lakers’ legacy brands. The former Disney CEO also stated his intention to keep that legacy on track.

“We’re fans,” Iger said to the California Post. “We respect the value that’s been created, both on the court and off. Our intention is to build this great franchise from a position of strength in many respects as an organization. We’re smart enough to know what we know and what we don’t know…”

Stephen A. Smith and Shellburne didn’t hype their former boss. They backed his executive mindset, which has brought success.