The Boston Celtics owners have announced that they are putting the team up for sale, just two weeks after winning a record 18th NBA title.
“The family that controls the ownership group has decided, after many internal discussions, to sell the team for reasons related to asset management and family planning,” the club wrote in a press release.
Forbes magazine valued the club at $4.7 billion last October, an 18 percent increase, the fourth highest valuation in the league after the Golden State Warriors ($7.7 billion), the New York Knicks ($6.6 billion) and the Los Angeles Lakers ($6.4 billion).
Businessman Wick Groesbeck heads the group that acquired ownership of the Celtics for $360 million in 2002 and hopes to remain the franchise’s NBA representative through 2028, the planned year for the family to fully exit its stake.
The statement continued, “The group’s board of directors hopes to sell the majority of the shares in 2024 or early 2025, with all shares to be relinquished in 2028.”
Under the current owners, the Celtics won the title in 2008 by defeating arch-rivals the Los Angeles Lakers to tie them with 17 titles each, lost the finals to the Lakers themselves in 2010, then the 2022 finals to Golden State, before setting the record alone last season by defeating the Dallas Mavericks 4-1, led by the duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Club sales have been active recently, with the Phoenix Suns sold to billionaire Matt Ishbia for $4 billion in February 2023. The Milwaukee Bucks’ joint ownership stake went to Jimmy and his wife, Dee Haslam, for $3.5 billion last year. The Mavericks were sold in December to Miriam Adelson and Patrick Dumont, who took a majority stake (69 percent) for $3.8 billion.
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