Why Massachusetts Native, NBA Owner Won’t Buy Celtics: ‘No Chance’

The Boston Celtics announced the presumed sale of their majority ownership stake less than a month following the organization’s NBA Finals victory in June, warranting questions surrounding potential candidates to replace current governor Wyc Grousbeck.

Massachusetts native Joe Lacob, the current majority owner of the Golden State Warriors, is among those with zero interest in purchasing the winningest franchise in NBA history — currently worth $4.7 billion, according to Forbes. Lacob, who grew up in New Bedford, Massachusetts, led a group of investors to purchase the Warriors for $450 million in 2010 and has since watched the team grow into a dynasty that’s won four championships.

Even though the Celtics were Lacob’s childhood team, the 68-year-old doesn’t care.

“No chance,” Lacob revealed on “The Athletic NBA Show” to David Aldridge and Marcus Thompson. “No chance, sorry. That ship sailed a long time ago — a long, long time ago. I’m a Warrior, this is my identity, it’s our identity. I love what we’ve done. I love our fans, our arena (and) the last decade, and I just wanna do more. I just wanna create an even longer and even greater legacy for this organization.”

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Lacob became a part-owner of the Celtics in January 2006, investing alongside Grousbeck and sticking around for Boston’s 17th championship in 2008. Yet, with the Celtics having their established Hall of Fame core — of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen — leading the franchise, Lacob elected to depart and build from the ground up out on the West Coast with a Warriors team that hadn’t seen the Finals in 35 years.

Golden State proceeded to entrust its own homegrown, future Hall of Fame talent in Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Being a part of that forever-engraved part of NBA history, Lacob underwent a transition of fandom that’ll never be undone; so much so that it was fulfilling once Golden State and Boston met in the 2022 Finals, which ended in a confetti/champagne-filled celebration for the Warriors at TD Garden.

“I came from there, I grew up with the Celtics in the (1960s),” Lacob explained to Aldridge and Thompson. “I’m getting pretty old. I’m not a Celtics fan now, but I was very much a Celtics fan growing up in that parquet floor and that whole thing. And to go into Boston and do it in that floor, and we were down 2-1, and the way Steph and others played — (Andrew) Wiggins — it was… so unbelievably rewarding.”

This offseason, Golden State’s “Splash Brothers” era ended after Thompson signed a three-year deal with the Dallas Mavericks. The Warriors welcomed in Kyle Anderson, but haven’t made any significant moves. Nevertheless, the organization does intend to remain competitive following its No. 10 seed (46-36) finish last season.

“I do believe we are nowhere near done,” Lacob said. “… I’m just trying to win. I’m just trying to win as much as possible.”