The Boston Celtics majority possession group, led by Wyc Grousbeck, is planning to make the franchise obtainable on the market.
Grousbeck and associate Steve Pagliuca led a gaggle into a purchase order of the workforce in 2002 for $360 million. Since then, franchise valuations have skyrocketed, with the most recent groups to promote controlling shares being the Phoenix Suns, which went for $4 billion to Mat Ishbia in February 2023, the Milwaukee Bucks, with Jimmy and Dee Haslem paying $3.5 billion a number of weeks later, and the Dallas Mavericks, with the Adelson and Dumont households paying $3.5 billion in December.
The Celtics are one of many iconic franchises in all {of professional} sports activities, with an NBA document 18 NBA titles — second solely to the New York Yankees (27) amongst all North American skilled sports activities leagues.
In an announcement saying the choice Monday, the Celtics introduced that the managing board of the possession group expects to promote a “majority curiosity” within the workforce both later this yr or early subsequent yr, and that it “expects Wyc Grousbeck to stay because the Governor of the workforce till the second closing in 2028.”
Since Grousbeck’s group, referred to as Boston Basketball Companions, bought the workforce, the Celtics have constantly been among the many league’s greatest groups. They’ve claimed a pair of titles — together with profitable the title final month with a five-game victory over the Dallas Mavericks within the NBA Finals — and reached the NBA Finals on two different events.
Over that span, Boston is third in common season victories, trailing solely the San Antonio Spurs and Mavericks — the one three groups with over 1,000 common season victories throughout that interval — and are second to the Miami Warmth in playoff victories.
Sources instructed ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski earlier Monday that Boston has agreed to a four-year, $125.9 million extension with Derrick White. The Celtics are additionally anticipated to conform to signal Jayson Tatum a five-year, $314 million extension — which might be the biggest contract in NBA historical past — someday this summer season, as they proceed to lock within the core of a workforce that gained 64 video games and completed with a 16-3 document within the playoffs en path to the title. That’s the second-best profitable share in NBA postseason historical past because the playoffs expanded to 4 seven-game sequence.