The Boston Celtics’s $6.1 billion sale to Bill Chisholm was a long time coming after the team’s former owners laid out their intentions to sell the team after winning the 2024 NBA Finals.
While fans have mixed reactions to the number of zeroes involved in the sale, Jayson Tatum and the rest of the Celtics roster are zeroed in on bringing Banner No. 19 for their new majority owner. Depending on how things go, it may start a new era of dominance for the Celtics not seen since the sixties.
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While the sale is a news-worthy item in and of itself, one analyst thinks that the move also means big things for Adam Silver and the rest of the NBA bigwigs. The massive transaction may help the NBA focus on one thing that’s been on the backburner for quite some time.
Analyst thinks Boston Celtics’ sale will push the NBA to chase league expansion aggressively
NBC Sports’ Kurt Helin expects the league to explore expanding the league to more interested businessmen as the sale emphasizes how valuable the market has been as of late:
That sale was one of the things the NBA league office was waiting for before turning its attention to expansion. The league wanted a new, higher baseline for franchise values, allowing it to set a higher price for an expansion franchise. The league got the number it wanted.
Now, momentum toward expansion may pick up again.
While there has been plenty of talk about the NBA expanding — by two franchises, one in Seattle and the other very likely in Las Vegas — there has been no meaningful action on that front. In fact, expansion talk around the league has been very quiet. At the All-Star Game in February it was not a topic around the weekend, nor did it come up when NBA Commissioner Adam Silver spoke to the media. The last time Silver said anything publicly about expansion was in November before the NBA’s games in Mexico City.
Helin also noted that aside from the Celtics’ price tag, the new CBA and media deals would convince the Board of Governors to open the league to interested parties to further the product of professional basketball to a wider market.
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