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Sunday Edition

April 27, 2025

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The Celtics are chasing back-to-back titles with the same core—but with new private-equity ownership that will soon face major financial decisions. Today I wrote about how the transition, which is still not approved, is more complicated than it might seem. Make sure to read on to the end, where our editor-in-chief Dan Roberts [[link removed]] shares his thoughts on this era of messy NBA team sales.

— Ben Horney [[link removed]]

The Celtics Succession Plan Remains Murky [[link removed]]

Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images

Echoes of the Celtics victory parade less than two weeks earlier were still ringing when Wyc Grousbeck announced in July [[link removed]] that Boston Basketball Partners LLC was looking to sell the Celtics for “estate and family planning considerations.”

By late March, the team was sold at a reported $6.1 billion price tag [[link removed]], to a group led by little-known private-equity executive Bill Chisholm.

On the floor, the Celtics have paid little mind to the sale process. They accomplished the rare feat of consecutive 60-win seasons. They beat opponents by a little more than nine points per victory, the third-best margin in the league behind only Cleveland and Oklahoma City [[link removed]]. Boston went 11–2 in the 13 regular-season games after the deal was announced.

Boston is inching closer to a second straight title, but the franchise’s future is everything but certain.

It’s not just that the deal has yet to be approved. The transition of power itself remains murky.

Grousbeck plans to continue overseeing team operations through the 2027–2028 season, and there’s unresolved family drama [[link removed]] that reportedly contributed to the decision to sell. Plus, the current transaction structure may be against the NBA’s private-equity ownership rules.

And no matter what, the Celtics will owe an unprecedented $270 million in taxes [[link removed]] when the Finals are over.

The Grousbecks and other investors purchased the Celtics in 2002 for $360 million [[link removed]]. With franchise valuations rising ever higher—and considering the tax implications for keeping it in the family—it’s understandable they would choose to capitalize on that original investment. Especially if you believe the New York Post, which reported that the Celtics sale took place in part because of a rift [[link removed]] between Wyc Grousbeck and his father, 90-year-old Irving Grousbeck, who was unhappy over payroll and potential financial losses.

As the attorneys at Massachusetts law firm Samuel, Sayward & Baler LLC explain [[link removed]], if the elder Grousbeck were to die with a Celtics interest, it would be subject to a hefty federal estate tax. Assets worth more than $13.6 million are taxed at a “whopping” 40%, the firm says. By selling his interest, that asset becomes cash, which is “much easier to plan with.”

The transaction as it’s proposed would take place in two parts, with 51% of the Celtics being sold upon approval by the NBA’s board of governors (owners are expected to vote in June). Remaining minority owners can retain their positions until 2028, at which point their shares will be sold for up to 20% more, in accordance with a revenue-based formula set by the league, according to [[link removed]] the Associated Press. When all is said and done, the deal is expected to have a final blended valuation of up to $7.3 billion.

The man leading the buying group, Chisholm, hasn’t spoken much publicly since the announcement and is a bit of a mystery man. (The press release for the deal calls him a “lifelong Celtics fan and Boston-area native.”) He’ll be investing in his personal capacity, not through his firm, Symphony Technology Group, and is assuming responsibility for one of the most historic franchises in NBA history with a record 18 banners.

Winslow Townson/Imagn Images

The Chisholm takeover, as currently constructed, is not guaranteed to go through. The existing deal framework will test the NBA’s private-equity ownership rules.

Private-equity firm Sixth Street Partners—a major player in sports that recently purchased [[link removed]] a 10% stake in the San Francisco Giants and is among the Celtics buying group—has reportedly committed more money than Chisholm [[link removed]], which is against the NBA’s private-equity ownership rules, first established in 2020.

Fixes are apparently already in the works; Wyc Grousbeck recently said [[link removed]] that additional investors are being added to the buying group, including “a lot of former partners.” He also said he’s “doubling down on all of my stuff and putting everything I’ve got to stay in for a while,” although it’s unclear exactly what that means.

The most persistent question for years has been answered: Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown aren’t going anywhere, having signed supermax contracts that together total roughly $562 million in guaranteed money [[link removed]] (Brown is signed through 2028–2029, while Tatum has an option to extend to 2029–2030). And Derrick White should be around for a while (he signed a four-year deal [[link removed]] worth up to $125.9 million over the summer).

But team president Brad Stevens may reportedly try to trade [[link removed]] Kristaps Porziņģis and starting guard Jrue Holiday as soon as this summer to shed some salary, and Al Horford will be 39 years old by the time this year’s postseason is over. Next year and beyond, the Celtics are expected to trigger the NBA’s controversial [[link removed]] second apron, which was implemented before this season to increase parity with the threat of hefty taxes and penalties. When teams’ total payrolls cross the second apron threshold, they lose roster-building levers like the abilities to use trade exceptions and the taxpayer mid-level exception, which is often used by capped teams to fortify their rotation.

No matter how much maneuvering Stevens does, the Celtics will likely be in luxury-tax land for the foreseeable future. They’re projected [[link removed]] to pay almost $228 million in salary next year alone, roughly $10 million more than the team right behind them, the Suns.

If the Celtics don’t make major personnel moves, they could face a total payroll bill of about $500 million, between salary and luxury taxes. The anticipated $270 million tax hit is almost $100 million more than the previous record holder, the 2023–2024 Warriors, who had to foot a $176.9 million luxury tax bill [[link removed]]. (Steve Pagliuca, a longtime minority owner who lost the takeover bid to Chisholm, wrote a heated letter [[link removed]] to fans last month saying he is “saddened” and that his proposal was “fully guaranteed and financed” and would not have hamstrung the team’s future.)

For head coach Joe Mazzulla and his players, now is not the time to worry about the team’s balance sheet or what the future will hold. The playoffs are underway, and there have been only 13 teams [[link removed]] in NBA history that have won at least two consecutive titles. The Celtics have a chance to become the 14th with championship number 19. History is in their grasp.

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Editor’s Box The Era of Messy NBA Team Sales

Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images

The above story by our deals reporter Ben Horney wonderfully lays out the strange situation of the Celtics sale: a record price tag, a majority owner insisting on sticking around for a few more years even after he sells the team, a previously unknown buyer, and a deal that is not yet compliant [[link removed]] with NBA rules on private equity ownership.

Everyone is talking about that $6.1 billion price tag, but it’s surprising that more people aren’t talking about the unanswered questions around the buyer: Does Bill Chisholm have enough money to buy the Celtics?

As a refresher: NBA rules state a PE firm cannot be the largest stakeholder in a team; the controlling owner must contribute 15% of the purchase price, and a PE firm with a minority stake can own only 20% or less than 15% if the controlling owner has only 15%. Chisholm has a PE firm, Symphony Technology Group, but a different PE firm, Sixth Street, has committed more than Chisholm himself so far, Axios reported last month. At that time, a source told Front Office Sports Chisholm is clear on NBA rules and “plans on becoming the single biggest owner of the team,” our senior news editor Dennis Young reported [[link removed]].

To share a bit more about that: I’ve had two very in-the-know sources tell me in just the past week that Chisholm has been actively calling other rich team owners—including a deep-pocketed NFL owner—to ask if they want to buy in. (Chisholm’s reps declined to comment.)

And the Celtics are just the latest in a string of weird NBA franchise sales. The Timberwolves sale took four years to finally go through [[link removed]], after majority owner Glen Taylor initially agreed to a highly unusual multistage transition plan to sell the team to Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez for $1.5 billion, then yanked the agreement last year [[link removed]], claiming Lore and A-Rod missed a payment. Ultimately, it took an arbitration panel ruling in favor [[link removed]] of Lore and A-Rod in February, and Taylor not fighting it further, for the sale to get finalized.

Then there was the Dallas Mavericks sale: Mark Cuban sold 72% of the team to Miriam Adelson at a$3.5 billion in 2023 but said he’d retain decision-making power [[link removed]] over the team; Cuban’s own reaction [[link removed]] to the stunning Luka Dončić trade suggests otherwise.

Take those three deals together, and it’s clear that the old model of franchise ownership—where one family owns a pro team for decades, passing it down, before selling to another family—is dying as the big leagues welcome new money from PE firms and athletes and celebrities.

In our FOS interview series Portfolio Players [[link removed]], I’ve been asking my guests why everyone is rushing to buy a piece of a sports team right now—besides the obvious, which is soaring franchise valuations. Rashaun Williams [[link removed]], an LP in the Atlanta Falcons and guest shark on Shark Tank, called becoming an NFL part owner “the coup de grace, what finance people call the hero’s journey.” Sam Porter [[link removed]], who owns the soccer teams Necaxa in Mexico and La Equidad in Colombia, said, “Sports teams are inherently a scarce asset class… You can think about sports franchises as a Picasso that has an active balance sheet and a group of employees and a lot going on.”

The traditional franchise sale process and ownership structures are changing because everyone wants in right now, and they’re banging down the doors.

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