The Boston Celtics were last sold for $360 million 22 years ago to ownership leaders Wyc Grousbeck and Steve Pagliuca, and as the 18-time champion storied franchise hits the market for the first time in over two decades, the NBA is examining all possible avenues for the presumed upcoming transfer of powers.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver revealed the projected multi-billion-dollar sale -- the Celtics ranked fourth on the league's valuation list at $4.7 billion, according to Forbes -- could lean on a tiered sale. Similar to how the Minnesota Timberwolves structured their sale to Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lowe, in which the first 20% of the $1.5 billion total earned them 40% of ownership, Boston could take an identical approach to slowly acclimate its next owner through a step-by-step process.
"Every one of these situations presents itself differently," Silver told Eben Novy-Williams of Sportico. "It remains the case of what I said philosophically about stepped transactions (in April), but the devil's in the details."
The timing of the team's announced intentions to sell -- just weeks after capturing its 2024 NBA championship over the Dallas Mavericks -- makes for a complex and confusing scenario. Grousbeck vowed the maintain as much of Boston's title-winning roster as possible and stood by that word. The Celtics re-signed five-time All-Star Jayson Tatum to a record-breaking $315 million supermax extension, making the 26-year-old the league's highest-paid player, catapulting the cost of Boston's starting lineup of Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White to a lavish $930 million-plus price tag. For obvious reasons, maintaining Boston's potential dynasty core isn't as elementary as the swipe of a credit card.
Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens worked tirelessly to acquire Porzingis and Holiday last offseason and make the most of a (very) limited offseason this go-around to help bolster the roster as much as possible; drafting Baylor Scheierman from Creighton and Anton Watson from Gonzaga before signing veteran Lonnie Walker IV to an Exhibit 10 contract. It's evident in the seven seasons under Tatum and Brown's co-leadership that Boston's committed to a multiple-title run.
For now, the reigning champs can look forward to raising Banner 18, collecting their rings and kicking off 2024-25 against the New York Knicks on Oct. 22.
