The iconic Los Angeles Lakers NBA basketball franchise has unveiled personal financial assistant app Albert as its new jersey patch partner.
The brand’s jersey patch will be featured on the upper left chest of all four Lakers uniforms starting from the 2026-27 season.
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Albert replaces Korean food brand Bibigo, which held rights for the past five seasons.
The new deal is reportedly worth over $30 million annually, up from Bibigo’s $20 million per year.
The agreement was brokered by Excel Sports Management’s properties division.
The previous contract with Bibigo was secured by the international sports marketing agency Sportfive.
The Lakers have only had two jersey patch partners since the program was opened, starting with e-commerce platform Wish, which had rights between 2017 and 2021 in a deal worth approximately $12 million to $14 million.
Bibigo then took over the designation from 2021 to 2026 in a deal worth $100 million in total, becoming the first South Korean company to secure an NBA jersey patch deal, with the partnership aimed at boosting the team’s footprint in Asia.
While Bibigo’s agreement was worth far more than Wish’s, it extended beyond the NBA and included branding across the South Bay Lakers, the franchise’s team in the developmental G League, and its esports division.
The agreement with Albert comes months after billionaire businessman Mark Walter completed his purchase of the Lakers, after gaining unanimous approval from the league’s board of governors.
Walter, the chief executive and chairman of holding company TWG Global, was already a minority shareholder in the Lakers before subsequently acquiring a majority stake through an agreement with the Buss family that values the team at $10 billion.
Los Angeles-based Albert’s patch placement will also give brand exposure through live game action, television broadcasts, highlight coverage, and photography.
The Lakers are the third NBA team to secure a new jersey patch partner in the past month.
In June, the Golden State Warriors announced a deal with AI cloud computing firm Iren, claimed to be the most lucrative sponsorship in the history of North American team sports, valued at around $50 million per year.
In the same month, the Utah Jazz partnered with healthcare finance services firm Healthequity, while the Dallas Mavericks agreed a multi-year partnership with JPMorganChase in early July.
