NBA Rumors: Icy Relationship With Wyc Grousbeck Hurting Top Celtics Buyer

Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca appears to be giving his best effort to buy the controlling shares of the iconic franchise.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if Pagliuca had an inside track since he partnered with Wyc Grousbeck in 2002 to buy the Celtics for $360 million.

Pagliuca and Grousbeck have presided over the Celtics for over two decades and opened up their wallets to help Boston capture a couple of NBA titles. But the power couple reportedly might not be on the best of terms.

According to the New York Post’s Josh Kosman, multiple sources told him Pagliuca and Grousbeck have an “alleged strained relationship.” One source told Kosman that it appeared Grousbeck disregarded Pagliuca in a postgame celebration after the Celtics won the NBA championship in June.

A Pagliuca spokesperson flat out denied the rumors of an icy relationship between the two and cited how Grousbeck invested in many Pagliuca projects, including Pagliuca’s co-ownership of Atalanta of the Italian Serie A soccer league.

“Steve and Wyc enjoy both a close personal and professional relationship and any suggestion to the contrary is simply false,” the spokesperson told Kosman. “Steve values Wyc’s friendship and their families have become close over their more than 20 years since purchasing the Celtics.”

This isn’t the first report of Grousbeck being at odds with someone close to him since the Celtics were put up for sale at the beginning of July. Grousbeck reportedly was in family feud since it was primarily the decision of his father, who owns the controlling stake in the organization, to sell the team. Grousbeck fully rebuked that rumor.

Transferring ownership hands from Grousbeck to Pagliuca seems like it would be a win for Celtics fans since Pagliuca has a firm understanding of how the franchise operates.

Pagliuca is trying to get the team’s other minority shareholders to back him and he is “angling” to buy the Celtics at a “discount” price of $5 billion, per Kosman.

But he may have to mend a relationship with Grousbeck before that can happen.