Boston is back on top of the NBA after 16 years, winning the title, but the ownership of the franchise now announces its intention to leave, and sell the team. A decision that has a thousand interesting implications to explore, starting from the role of the majority owner Wyc Grousbeck, who would remain at the helm until 2028. And a franchise purchased for 380 million dollars 22 years, today is valued at over 5 billion dollars
A sensational news shakes the NBA world: The Boston Celtics, fresh off their 18th NBA title, are up for sale. It was announced by the Boston Basketball Partners LLCin a statement released by the Celtics themselves: “After much thought and a long discussion, the family that controls the majority group has decided to sell the team, for internal planning reasons”. Behind the term “family” lies Wyc Grousbeck, the representative owner of the Celtics, “governor”in NBA jargon, a a position that Grousbeck intends to maintain until 2028that is, when the sale will be definitively completed after an initial sale that should take place – as stated in the press release – between 2024 and the first months of 2025. Grousbeck, together with his partner Steve Pagliuca (owner of 8% of the Celtics’ value), had finalized thepurchase of the franchise in 2002 for 360 million dollars: today the estimates of its value are around between 4.7 and 5.12 billion dollarsalthough – after the title won a few weeks ago – there are also those who say that a possible selling price could reach 5.5 billion. “The right time to sell”some point out, and certainly capitalizing on a moment of success on one’s own asset can certainly be the basis of Grousbeck’s decision. But there are many other interesting themes surrounding the future sale of the Boston Celtics, which are directly intertwined with current news which have seen the pharaonic renewals granted to Jayson Tatum ($314 million for 5 years) and Derrick White (126 million for 4 years), after the one already signed by the MVP of the last finals Jaylen Brown (another 304 million for 5 years).
The sword of Damocles of the taxes foreseen by the new collective agreement
Adding thetotal amount of contracts held by the starting five players of the Celtics, after doing some calculations we arrive at a figure that is close to a billion dollars (939 million). The new collective agreement introduced the so-called “second apron”, a second luxury tax threshold to discourage teams from excessively exceeding the salary cap limits. This threshold, for 2025-26, should settle on $208 million, a figure that the Celtics’ player salaries would exceed by quite a bit. The tax for those, like Boston, who would find themselves with a salary cap of more than $20 million above that second threshold would soar by 40% and even 52.6% for those – like the Celtics – who have exceeded that threshold for several consecutive years. The final amount of taxes to be paid to the NBA by Bostontherefore, it would end up being even higher than the 208 million in wages already owed to the players, making these Celtics the most expensive team ever. In addition to making money, many observers have seen in Grousbeck’s decision also the idea of capitalizing now without having to face all the financial problems related to the salary pool and expected taxes in the future.
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A deferred sale: the solution that Silver doesn’t like
The other major issue raised by the decision announced by Boston Basketball Partners LLC is that of timing. The sale of the Celtics, in fact, would take place in more moments: an initial phase between 2024 and early 2025, and then a Completion by 2028when (and only then) Grousbeck would step down as governor. Not a noveltyin recent transactions within the NBA world: the Dallas Mavericks, da Mark Cuban a Miriam Adelson (with the giallo of the announced control over the “basketball operations” left in the hands of Cuban himself, a solution later denied in the facts) and above all they did it Minnesota Timberwolves, da Glen Taylor alla coppia Alex Rodriguez-Marc Lore (transfer that never materialized, with the two parties involved in a furious argument that led to arbitration). Two precedents that were either unsuccessful or unclear and that NBA commissioner Adam did not like very much. Silver: “It’s not the ideal solution: once the ongoing disputes are resolved, I think that We will have to review what is allowed and what is not in the sales processes of our franchises“, ha threatened Silver. Now even the Boston Celtics, the most successful franchise in the history of the league, chooses a similar approach. And while we wait to see the developments – starting with who will come forward to buy the Celtics – Silver and the rest of the NBA are watching intently.
