Hey there! Some big news in the sports world – Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry is selling his portion of the team to Cleveland Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam for a whopping $3.5 billion! This deal still needs to be approved by the league, but if it goes through, it would be the second-highest valuation ever for an NBA team.
Before this, the highest purchase price for an NBA team was when Mat Ishbia bought the Phoenix Suns for $4 billion earlier this month. Wow! This just shows that the prices for NBA teams have been going up in recent years.
It’s not just the Bucks, though. Other teams like the Brooklyn Nets, Houston Rockets, and LA Clippers have also sold for billions of dollars in the past few years.
Marc Lasry bought the Bucks back in 2014 for $550 million, and since then, the team has become one of the best in the NBA. They won the championship in 2021, which was their first in 50 years. The Bucks have also been willing to pay a lot of money to keep their best players and maintain a championship team.
Lasry and his co-owner Wes Edens also built the Bucks’ arena, the Fiserv Forum, which opened in 2018. After selling his portion of the Bucks, Lasry plans to create a sports investment fund.
The Haslams are building their sports ownership portfolio with this purchase, having bought the Browns in 2012 and the Columbus Crew MLS franchise in 2019.
So, what does this mean for the Bucks? They’re doing great this season and are close to having the best record in the NBA. However, they have some big financial decisions to make, like whether or not to keep some of their key players who may become free agents soon.
The Bucks’ next game is against the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night. Let’s see how they do!
The Athletic Reports 
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