Report: Boston Celtics owners will 'make franchise available for sale' following 2024 title

Immediately following the Boston Celtics’ 2024 NBA Championship, the franchise’s ownership group is reportedly preparing to put the team on sale.

Here was that news, announced on Twitter Monday afternoon by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski:

“BREAKING: The Boston Celtics majority ownership group — led by Wyc Grousbeck — is planning to make the franchise available for sale, sources tell ESPN. The investment group purchased the team in 2002. Massive development for one of sports’ most valuable properties.”

Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated provided the release from the team withe the sale plans:

Just an observation but the second graph sounds a lot like the plan for the kind of tiered sale that was a disaster in Minnesota. pic.twitter.com/56F0HDMqbG

— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) July 1, 2024

Over that span, the current ownership group has overseen two championships, one in 2008 and of course the one this season. Of course, selling right after the title seems like an odd choice, but you know what business folks always say: buy low and sell high. Well, the Celtics owners are selling at the summit.

They may also be escaping a more precarious financial situation coming up in a few years. The strength of Boston’s team was their incredible five-man starting lineup featuring extremely high-level guys at every spot. But that also means high-dollar.

Boston just gave Derrick White a raise to where he’ll begin making north of $30 million per year on average, now putting all five guys over that $30 million per year threshold through at least next season, and if Jayson Tatum signs an extension (he will), all five will be under the books for 30+ million each for at least the next two seasons.

So, with all those payments, the Celtics are currently well over the salary cap, even if you remove all the holding allocations and only count the contracts that are guaranteed for next season. With those figures, they’re also already right at the first apron number and only have $10 million more to spend before hitting their heads on that second apron.

Boston will have to fill out a roster, and it’s nearly certain they’ll need $10 million to do it, since they’re expected to lose the entire end of the bench. Even if those guys are replaced with cheaper veterans and young dudes, it’d be hard to imagine keeping the figure under 10 million.

So, the Celtics are due and enormously large bill that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon for whoever takes over the team. Plus, Chris Mannix also noted how the current TV negotiations have impacted how owners view the upcoming years:

“Some owners have become very wary of what local TV deals could look like in the years ahead,” tweeted Mannix. “RSN’s are embattled and while the new national deal will be big, future local deals may not. Cuban, Grousbeck may see now as the time to get out while the gettin’ is good.”