The Blazers & Celtics Complete Two VERY Different Sales | Rachel Nichols & Chris Mannix

The Blazers & Celtics Complete Two VERY Different Sales | Rachel Nichols & Chris Mannix

All right, let’s talk a little ownership here, which is always a sexy topic in the NBA. We’ve got some ownership news though, Rachel. Uh, involving two franchises on different coast. And let’s start in Portland, uh, where the Portland Trailblazers have been sold. The Blazers, uh, which have been on the market for the last few years, ever since, uh, Paul Allen passed away. His will stated that the team needed to be sold. His sister Jod had been operating it. Well, she has found an owner, Tom Dundan, who is the owner of the Carolina Hurricanes billionaire. He is fronting the group that is going to buy the Trailblazers for $4 billion. Uh part of this group involves some local ties, so that’s a reason to be optimistic if you’re uh a Blazers fan about keeping your team in Portland. Uh your reaction to the Blazers, the price tag, and new ownership uh in Portland? Well, it’s interesting. I believe the sale has been reported to be almost 4 mill 4 billion. Sorry, god forbid I say 4 million. 4 billion. Um, Phil Knight apparently offered 2 billion and I’m kind of surprised that he didn’t go further than that and certainly could have arranged an ownership group where he could have put together $4 billion. I mean, he’s Phil Knight and his Nike shares alone could probably self finance it. So, that surprised me a little bit. Um, you know, Dunan has said that he intends to keep the team in Portland. Also, Adam Silver recently made the point of saying that Portland needs a new arena. And he brought that up in context of a question about expansion to Seattle. So, I I don’t think the people of Seattle who experienced having their team taken away are eager, as much as they love the Sonics, to take away Portland’s team. But it is going to be interesting to see what happens with that building if Dunan is willing to self- finance a new arena because I’m not sure in Oregon public funding for an arena is going to pass just politically. And we’ll have to see. I I Adam has specifically made it a point of emphasis that they need a new arena there. And again, he brought that up in the context of a question about Seattle Las Vegas expansion. Yeah. Um, nobody wants to see the Blazers move. They have fantastic fans that show up in the regular season, that show up in the playoffs that were great during that conference finals run with Danny Lillard and CJ McCollum. It’s a great place, uh, a great fan base for basketball. Also, Portland rules, man. And if you’re if you’re a wine drinker, if you’re a wine drinker, go to Portland. Portland is phenomenal. The wine country is like 20 minutes from the airport. like that’s where you want to go and you want to hang out. Shout out to my friends at uh Winderly who are the uh Boston Collegeowned vineyard out there in Portland. So give them I still order for them Rachel to this day. So Portland’s a great great neck of the woods. Great place to have an NBA team. But Rose Garden, I’m not saying it’s it’s not a f it’s fine as a fan in my opinion, but that’s what the league has said. Yeah, the what they call it the Moa Center. Now the Moa Center is Sorry. Yeah, we’re giving MODA the credit that deserves right there for whatever MOA is. Um, stable center to me. Go on. Yeah. Uh, it it is it’s a bad building. It’s a bad building. It’s not the oldest building in the NBA, but it’s not good. Uh, the locker rooms aren’t great. The concourses aren’t great. It It’s not a great building. It’s got to go. And look, to your point, Adam Silver wasn’t asked about the building. He brought up the fact that the Blazers need a new building. And look, it’s been it’s been reported that new ownership is going to keep the team in the Portland area, but I haven’t heard Tom Dundan say it yet until I hear it out of his mouth whenever he meets with reporters or does an interview. Uh that to me will be a a very interesting answer, one I will be certainly parsing if he equivocates at all uh on that answer. Um the like can he get public financing to your point that may be difficult. Is he willing to invest a ton of money into building a new arena? How important? I don’t know the answer to that. But you know, the the lease on the Mot Center, it runs, I think, till 2030. And that’s not a long time. Like that’s the you’re talking 5 years before this team can up and leave on its own. So hopefully hopefully I know we both agree that they get together, find a way to build a new building, and that team stays in Portland for years to come. But I I I I don’t know if I’d be nervous if I was a Blazer. That nervous is too strong a word. But whenever a team gets sold to an out of town guy who has no ties to the area, yeah, you’ve got some min already owners that have some ties there. That’s fine. But when you need a building and you don’t know if that building’s going to be coming and there’s an expiration date on your lease, you do want some urgency from everybody involved to get something done. Yeah. And and again, I don’t think anyone in Seattle is looking to take Portland’s team. the fans I’ve talked to don’t feel that way. I love the Blazers. People who follow me on social media know I have a special affection for the Blazers. I just it’s just the relationship there is so fun. Um but again, the people who run the league have brought up this point in one city in context with another city and the arena. So, we’ll see. I I don’t I don’t know where any of that’s going. I think it’s good that they finally have an owner and some leadership. Um, you know, Tom Dunan is is by all accounts a very good guy in Dallas. Mark Cuban’s given him his seal of approval. Um, he runs the pro I believe he owns the pro pickle ball league also in addition to the Carolina Panthers. Uh, but, you know, we’ll just have to see where it goes from here. Yeah. And look, he bought the Panthers, didn’t move that. In fact, has done by all accounts a pretty good job as owner of the Panthers, invested in that team and helped make them uh, successful. So, you know, maybe he does the exact same thing with Portland. I do think it’s interesting. And look, it’s more interesting because, and you and I have discussed this, that it seems like expansion could be taking a backseat to relocation. It doesn’t seem like that the league is as motivated to expand as they’ve been in years past. That owners currently are not eager to divvy up that national TV pie maybe as they were in years past. I think there’s still an appetite to put teams in Vegas and in Seattle, but I think it’s more likely that we at this point more likely we see current teams that are moved to those locations. And as long as there’s that that exit strategy with the lease and the building isn’t that great, then it’s something that’s going to be on people’s minds uh for the foreseeable future. The other ownership development and a smaller one to certainly is in Boston where Bill Chisum was officially approved by the NBA. $6.1 billion for the Boston Celt. is a record price for the NBA at least until the Lakers are officially sold. Um the the news that came out of this Rachel was that Wick Gbach who is the outgoing owner for the selfish the leader of the group that is effectively financed by his father uh Irv Gbach uh he is not going to be the governor of the team. Uh they when this deal was put together it was announced by the Celtics that Gresback would stay on as the team governor through 2028. you would maintain effectively control of basketball operations through 2028. Uh the NBA came in and said no no no no no no no no that’s not how this works. The reasons I was told was that it’s purely financial that you ha to be a governor of the team you have to own at least 15% of the team and Wickrosc does not own 15% of the Boston. In fact the only person in this ownership group that does is Bill Chisum. So he owns that piece. He’s the governor. Wick is the alternate governor. reportedly he’s going to keep his job as CEO. Brad Stevens certainly still there. Rich Gotham, who runs business affairs, is still there. Uh do you think this is just, you know, paperwork or do you think this is a a meaningful development with the Celtics? We’ll have to see because we’ve we’ve heard this song before, right? Mark Cuban was going to stay on, I believe, when the Dallas sale was made first. It was announced, I believe, that he was going to stay on as governor. certainly that he was going to still run basketball operations and pretty quickly that was apparent that was not true and you know Merc made the point when the Luca trade happened they didn’t they didn’t talk to me about this I mean when you make that major decision um you know it’s pretty clear he’s just not involved with running the team anymore and that was not the announcement when he sold the team we’re seeing this happen in Boston here in LA I’m very curious to see what happens with Mark Mark Walter buying the team because again there was a similar announcement that Genie bus is going to stay the governor and she’s going to stay, you know, the president of the team. And as we see with Wick’s situation in Boston, she can stay the president of the team for as long as Mark Walter wants to keep her in the job. And I would argue that both both of those people have done a great job at their jobs. Um, but I’m curious given this with the Celtics and given what happened in Dallas, is Genie Bus going to be a board of governors meetings in the future? And and that’s relevant to me personally a little bit because what what what how many men are sitting around that table versus how many women are sitting around that table um is important. Yeah. And I forgot what percentage Mark Walter is buying of the team. I know the valuation is 10 billion but he’s not buying 100% of it. I think the Bus family is going to own because you own uh minority share in it. But that money or that share and the money from it is going to be divvied up amongst the bus kids. Like she’s got to share her whatever piece of it that they’re selling with her her brothers. Um, so look, I I think this obviously if you’re Genie Bus, this lays out the rules effectively, which I don’t I don’t think the Celtics really were either not aware of or oblivious to when this announcement was initially made because when I talked to people in the league office, they were kind of like, and I’m paraphrasing, of course, but they were kind of like, hey, you know, they they put this out there, but this was never really what it was going to be. You always had to have that 15% stake. So now Jeanie knows what, you know, rule she’s playing by. If somehow she comes out of this with 15% of the team, then she can stay in that position of power. I think this is just, you know, for the Celtics. It’s bad news for Wick, but I think this was always going to eventually be, you know, not what Wick wanted. And I say that as someone that believes that Wick has been one of the great owners in Boston sports history. I mean, he came in and led a team to a championship, added on to a core that included Paul Pierce, led that team to a championship, rebuilt, won another championship, and has the Celtics this year notwithstanding, in position to be a championship contender for many, many years to come. So, he his ownership uh resume, his ownership tenure has been virtually flawless. But new guy comes in, pays six billion bucks. He’s going to want his word to be the final word. He’s going to want final say over all decisions. Um I never thought this was going to go till 2028 with Wick Rouse as the team governor. Maybe ended more abruptly than I initially believed it was going to, but you know I I can you know I can see obviously you know I saw Wick and Chisum at summer league together. They seem to be getting along. They seem to be in sync. And look, this year is a rebuilding year. There’s no financial stress. In fact, just the opposite. The Celtics who just did a deal to move George Nang off the roster. Now they are 4 million over the first tax apron 12 million above the luxury tax threshold. Like they are just going to continue to cut to try to get as far under both thresholds as they possibly can. So there’s no like pressure to win, pressure to spend, any of that stuff. But at some point there will be and I think that’s where you know how you build a team, how much you spend, that’s where certain tensions can certainly develop between a former owner and a current owner. So you know he he’ll he’ll remain on board. Again, from what I understand the dynamic is very good between uh these two men, but you know year two years things can change. to your point, it only took months for Mark Cuban to uh to be on the way out in Dallas in terms of basketball decision-making uh power. But it’ll be interesting to see uh how all that plays out. I I get it. These guys put their I mean Wick was a very present owner, right? Mark Cuban obviously an extremely present owner who felt that they built these franchises back up, you know, after they took over. And you just gave Wick’s resume has been exceptional in Boston. We know what Cuban did in Dallas, not just the championship, but making the team as relevant and as destination as it is when you and I both know how it was before he came in and and got involved. And I I think it’s difficult to see what has been your life’s work for a long time um in someone else’s hands, but it’s true with companies where, you know, they buy out the founder and then they keep them on the CEO and sometimes it works, but often it doesn’t. Um, you know, the the Lakers have been Genie Bus’s life literally her entire life. And um, I personally hope she can retain enough of an ownership stake to still be the governor because again, but she and Mark Walters reportedly get along great and that this was a friendship deal in some ways. Um, but I think she’s just been good for the game and she’s been a good important voice in the league office and has a ton of experience on on the committee she’s on and uh it’s good to see, you know, I’d like to see more minority representation in those board of governors meetings and I’d like to see more gender representation and losing Genie Bus would be a blow to that. So, yeah, no question. Losing Genie Bus, losing a member of the Bus family at the table for the Los Angeles Lakers would be uh certainly new in the uh long history of the NBA. and to put a button on Wick. I mean, it’s got to be tough for him because he I don’t think he really wanted to sell. Like, this was a decision that was say that his his father, you know, who was in his 90s made this decision and I understand it like you want to get your house in order as as as you’re entering the twilight of life. Um I I get it and certainly you got a record price like you you bought the team for like what 300 something million dollars and you’re selling it for six billion. That’s a pretty damn good investment. Um if you’re H Irving Grpect. Uh, but certainly I think Wick wanted this ride to last a little bit longer. I think Steve Paglookuca, the other outgoing one, wanted this ride to last last a little bit longer. We we didn’t we don’t have to do this, but like I just find we talked about the Connecticut Sun and that situation on the last show. It’s gotten messier and messier since we talked about them. Like now there’s multiple teams, multiple cities. They want to keep the team in Hartford. Maybe there’s a mistake. Like they want to, you know, maybe move it to Boston. Do these women a favor. Do everybody a favor. Move it to Boston. Have give them the big market, the shine. Let them play at the TD Garden. Yes, of course.

Chris Mannix and Rachel Nichols break down if the Blazers will eventually leave Portland after being sold to an out of state owner, and why the Celtics will have a new governor after the completion of their record breaking sale
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