The Celtics won game five of the NBA Finals, defeating the Dallas Mavericks, on June 18. Boston has now won 18 NBA championships, more than any other team, and within a fortnight of victory, the team was up for sale.
Since 2002, the Celtics have been owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC, which is controlled by the Grousbeck family. According to a statement released by the NBA, the sale is motivated by family and estate planning.
“The managing board of the ownership group expects to sell a majority interest in 2024 or early 2025, with the balance closing in 2028, and expects Wyc Grousbeck to remain as the Governor of the team until the second closing in 2028,” the statement reads.
According to a source within the NBA cited by the Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach, Wyc Grousbeck will be selling his own stake, not the full stake of Boston Basketball Partners.
According to the Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy, however, the man driving the sale might not be Wyc but his father, H. Irving Grousbeck, who turns 90 this month. Boston.com reports that Shaughnessy asked the younger Grousbeck for permission to write that his stake in the Celtics was limited to 2 percent. His reply was: “We hold as a family—all unified … We are a family, and I also have a Celtics family. Thanks.”
Whatever the case might be, the team’s co-Chairman, Stephen Pagliuca, will be among the bidders for a majority share, according to The Athletic. The size of Pagliuca’s current stake is unclear, but in 2020 he purchased the 8 percent stake of Jim Pallotta. Pagliuca retired as a Managing Director of Bain Capital last year but continues to serve the company as an advisor.
Boston Basketball Partners paid $360 million for the Celtics in 2002. The team has since appreciated in value. In 2023, when Forbes ranked all of the NBA’s teams, the Celtics’ were the NBA’s fourth most valuable team, worth $4.7 billion – behind the Los Angeles Lakers ($6.4bn), the New York Knicks ($6.6bn) and the Golden State Warriors ($7.7bn).
