Two weeks after guiding the Boston Celtics to an NBA-record 18th championship, the franchise’s homeowners are able to money out.
“The controlling household of the possession group, after appreciable thought and inside dialogue, has determined to promote the staff for property and household planning issues,” the Celtics mentioned in an announcement.
Grousbeck’s tenure has produced two championships — in 2008 and 2024 — and 16 postseason appearances up to now 17 seasons. The 63-year-old proprietor joined the locker room celebrations when the Celtics completed off the Dallas Mavericks with a Recreation 5 win within the NBA Finals two weeks in the past, and he held the Larry O’Brien Trophy through the staff’s championship parade by the streets of Boston.
Throughout its most up-to-date franchise valuations, Forbes concluded the Celtics had been price $4.7 billion — the fourth-most-valuable NBA franchise behind the Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers. Nonetheless, Boston had a payroll of $183.7 million final season — the fourth highest within the league — and Grousbeck told the Boston Globe in June that the franchise was “shedding cash” throughout its championship season.
“We’re followers who purchased the staff,” Grousbeck instructed the paper. “We’re doing this for love. We’re doing this for Celtic delight, and we’re going to place the whole lot we will into the staff to win a banner, to win a championship.”
The Celtics, given their wealthy historical past, massive market and status, nearly actually will fetch a report sale worth that tops the $4 billion paid by mortgage business government Mat Ishbia for the Phoenix Suns in 2023.
Given the NBA’s new wage cap guidelines, which add stiffer monetary penalties and new restrictions for the league’s highest-spending groups, conserving Boston’s championship staff collectively will change into more and more costly. The Celtics are on observe to return their complete beginning lineup and all of their key reserves for his or her title protection within the 2024-25 season, however after that they’re more likely to face laborious roster selections or be pressured to pay what may very well be unprecedented luxurious tax payments.
Grousbeck shouldn’t be the one NBA proprietor to pursue a sale throughout good instances in recent times. Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry bought his stake in February 2023, shortly after the franchise gained the 2021 championship, its first title in 50 years. Dallas Mavericks proprietor Mark Cuban bought his majority stake in November, simply months earlier than the Mavericks reached the Finals for the primary time in 13 years.
Below Commissioner Adam Silver, the common NBA franchise worth has elevated from $634 million in 2014 to $3.85 billion final 12 months, in keeping with Forbes.
