Weeks after winning NBA title, Celtics ownership group announces intention to sell the team

The NBA champion Boston Celtics are on the market.Wyc Grousbeck, the Celtics’ majority owner and governor, announced Monday he is putting the team up for sale just weeks after the franchise won its 18th NBA title.“Boston Basketball Partners LLC, the ownership group of the Boston Celtics, announced today its intention to sell all the shares of the team,” a team statement read. “The controlling family of the ownership group, after considerable thought and internal discussion, has decided to sell the team for estate and family planning considerations.”The team “expects to sell a majority interest in 2024 or early 2025, with the balance closing in 2028.” Grousbeck intends to remain in his position as governor of the Celtics “until the second closing in 2028.”The 63-year-old Grousbeck, a Worcester native and lifelong Celtics fan, led an investment group that bought the Celtics for $360 million in 2002. He oversaw the team’s two most recent championship runs — the first in 2008 led by Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, and this year’s Jayson Tatum- and Jaylen Brown-led squad.Speaking with reporters after the Celtics’ most recent championship parade two weeks ago, Grousbeck offered no indication that he was planning to sell the team.“It feels like we’ve got more to do,” he said. “I mean, I’ve got to go design a ring with the guys, and we’ve got to raise the banner in October. There’s more to do. But we’re going to build the team for next year. We’re going to enjoy this for now, though.”He later added: “We’re fans who bought this team. We’re all in this together. Let’s go get another one.”A May 2024 estimate from Sportico valued the Celtics at $5.12 billion, the fourth-highest in the NBA behind the Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers. Their latest championship surely will inflate that number even further.Forbes’ most recent estimate pegged the Celtics’ valuation at $4.7 billion.The Phoenix Suns were the last NBA franchise to be sold, with billionaire businessman Mat Ishbia purchasing it for a league record-setting $4 billion in 2023. The Celtics sale is expected to easily surpass that price tag.No major Boston sports franchise has changed ownership 2002, when Grousbeck and his partners bought the Celtics and John Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino bought the Red Sox.Boston has nearly its entire 2023-24 roster under contract for the upcoming season, including all five starters and its top four reserves. Shortly before news of Grousbeck’s decision broke, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported the Celtics had signed guard Derrick White to a four-year, $125.9 million extension. An even richer new deal for Tatum — one that should make him the highest-paid player in NBA history — is expected in the coming weeks.The Celtics should be NBA title favorites again in 2024-25, but they’re on pace to incur significant luxury tax penalties the following season. At that point, keeping a championship-caliber roster intact could become prohibitively expensive. Grousbeck’s choice to sell means that financial burden will fall on the team’s new owner or owners.Jayson Tatum holds the championship trophy during the Boston Celtics Championship parade. (Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald)

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