Celtics Rumors: Tensions Among Ownership Driving Sale Of Team

Just when it appeared as though Boston’s offseason blueprint had come to life perfectly, the Celtics surprisingly announced their intentions to sell the franchise for the first time since current ownership figureheads Wyc Grousbeck and Steve Pagliuca led a $360 million purchase of the 18-time champions in 2002.

Grousbeck stuck around for the highs of witnessing ex-Celtics general manager Danny Ainge pull off an offseason miracle in acquiring Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to join Paul Pierce, months before defeating Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2008 NBA Finals. Grousbeck, too, stood by Boston through the lows of parting ways with Rajon Rondo in 2014, which signaled the franchise’s transition from routine playoff contenders to contenders for the draft lottery. Now, with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown guiding the next great chapter of Celtics basketball, Grousbeck is headed out of TD Garden’s front door and the root cause is reportedly (very) simple.

Irving Grousbeck, the 90-year-old father of Wyc Grousbeck, isn’t thrilled with the franchise’s direction, more specifically unsettled by its currently enlarged roster cost, according to Josh Kosman of The New York Post. The Celtics last ofsseason re-signed Brown to the league’s previous highest all-time contract ($285 million), Kristaps Porzingis ($60 million), Jrue Holiday ($135 million), Derrick White ($125 million), and Tatum — to the league’s current highest-signed contract — at $315 million, leading them to a financially dicey territory. Boston’s starting lineup is, by far, the most expensive in the NBA, and the elder Grousbeck presumably wants zero part of signing off on those big-dollar checks. This makes the billion-dollar franchise that much more difficult to sell, leading the league to consider some alternative sale structures to help strike a deal.

“Wyc says we’ll spend whatever it takes, but dad wasn’t into losing money,” one source told the New York Post, Kosman wrote.

Wyc Grousbeck is entitled to roughly 3% of the team’s ownership stake while Irving’s name is attached to roughly 20%, and with the franchise worth an estimated $4.7 billion, per Forbes, the Grousbeck family is slated to earn a handsome profit. On the flip side, watching Wyc Grousbeck depart after 22 years of being a heavily hands-on owner, poses a plethora of questions and potential concerns for the franchise’s future. Will the next owner work to maintain the expensive, but elite core as-is? Are the Celtics due to relocate to a new arena? Can a billion dollar outside businessperson assimilate with Boston’s culture with little to no issues?

The last NBA team to sell, the Dallas Mavericks, sold for $3.5 billion last December.