Inside the stunning 72-hour Los Angeles Lakers sale - ESPN

BOB IGER WAS on his 213-foot sailing superyacht on Aug. 12, winding down a monthlong vacation in Europe following a historic, two-decade run as CEO of Disney.

The biggest event of the day was supposed to be the first total solar eclipse over the continent in more than a century.

Millions of tourists, including Iger, had booked vacations along the eclipse's path from Greenland to Southern Spain during the syzygy — a word derived from Ancient Greek for «yoked together» — which describes a rare astronomical event in which three or more celestial bodies align in a straight line.

During a solar eclipse, the moon sits exactly between the sun and Earth, casting its shadow onto Earth. Some enjoy the rare view — through special sunglasses.

Others ascribe great meaning and magic to eclipses. As those tourists headed to viewing spots for the solar eclipse across Europe, Iger was in a wholly different syzygy with his longtime friend and business partner Josh Kushner and Los Angeles Lakers owner Mark Walter.

The alignment of three financial heavy hitters was about to turn what should have been a once-in-a-generation event — last year's record-breaking sale of the Lakers from the Buss family to Walter — into the NBA's most shocking news — again.

Instead of getting into position to watch the solar eclipse, Iger was furiously working the phones from Italy to consummate a stunning event of his own — a $12.5 billion sale of the Lakers seemingly out of nowhere, creating an eclipse unto itself across the worlds of sports and business.

Little did anyone know that these secret, cross-continental talks were about to put the Lakers in significant transition yet again — with new owners evaluating everything and everyone; squabbling former owners