Amazon founder Jeff Bezos may very well be within the combine to purchase the Boston Celtics, based on The Ringer’s Invoice Simmons, who mentioned on his podcast on Sunday that the NBA needs the franchise to promote for $6 billion. On July 1, two weeks after successful the 2024 NBA championship, the Celtics introduced that their possession group, led by Wyc Grousbeck, deliberate to promote the group.

Simmons mentioned he had “a bunch of data” about what he described as “an enormous, big matter proper now within the circles of individuals that may need to purchase a group.” This is what he instructed Chuck Klosterman on the podcast:

• Irving Grousbeck, Wyc’s 90-year-old father, is “driving the sale,” Simmons mentioned, and “he simply needs the best worth,” so potential patrons with ties to Boston won’t have an edge. In current days, there was “professional buzz” about Bezos being curious about shopping for the franchise. “I feel it is actual,” he mentioned. “I feel he’ll be one of many suitors.”
• The NBA needs the promote worth to be $6 billion. “They do not personal their enviornment,” Simmons mentioned. “It is a loopy worth, however they’re most likely going to get it.”
• Why $6 billion? The league needs to “set up a worth” with this sale as a precursor to growth, based on Simmons. “They need to get $6 billion apiece” in growth charges for groups in Seattle and Las Vegas, “which might imply a test of $400 million to each NBA proprietor, all 30,” he mentioned. Simmons additionally mentioned that Mexico Metropolis is “type of looming as a 3rd group.”

For context, mortgage lender Mat Ishbia purchased the Phoenix Suns and the WNBA’s Mercury in 2022 for $4 billion. The Nets and Liberty had been valued at $6 billion when proprietor Joe Tsai bought a minority stake in June.

In February 2023, Bezos employed funding agency Allen & Firm to judge a possible bid for the NFL’s Washington Commanders, however a gaggle led by Josh Harris in the end purchased the franchise. The Washington Submit reported in April 2023 that Bezos had curiosity in ultimately buying the Seattle Seahawks.

This offseason, the Celtics signed Jayson Tatum to a five-year contract extension price $314 million, the most important contract in NBA historical past. (Earlier than that, the five-year, $285 million extension that Boston’s Jaylen Brown signed in the summertime of 2023 was the most important in historical past.) The group additionally signed Derrick White to a four-year, $118 million extension. The Celtics’ roster is projected to be traditionally costly within the coming years.