Credit: Fadeaway World
With the Phoenix Suns sale price reportedly valued at $2 billion, the Atlanta Hawks became one of the franchises that were sold for under a billion in 2015.
This stat comes on the back of Robert Sarver selling the Suns and Mercury. The majority owner of the NBA franchise was suspended for one year from any activities involving both teams and also fined $10 million for “workplace misconduct and organizational deficiencies” that surfaced during a detailed NBA investigation.
With this, the Hawks were the last franchise that was sold for under $1 billion (0.85 billion). This was confirmed on Reddit with the user also listing that the Milwaukee Bucks were sold for 0.55 billion in 2014.
Here’s a quick look at the teams and their recent sale price: Utah ($1.66 billion), Minnesota ($1.5 billion), Brooklyn ($2.35 billion), Houston ($2.2 billion), Atlanta ($0.85 billion), LA Clippers ($2 billion), and Milwaukee (0.55 billion).
The sale of the Hawks team was announced when they were playing the Brooklyn Nets in an opening-round series in April 2015. It was sold for $850 million to billionaire Tony Ressler who is also a minority owner of baseball’s Milwaukee Brewers. At the time of the sale, Ressler put out a statement (via USA Today) sharing news of the sale.
“We are honored and thrilled to have been chosen to become the new stewards of the Hawks,” said Ressler, who was not at Game 2 but issued a statement through the team. “We respect the NBA’s approval process and, accordingly, can say no more than we are incredibly excited by the Hawks’ success and wish them luck in the playoffs.”
On the Suns front, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver released a statement reacting to Sarver’s decision to sell the franchise saying he was fully supportive of Sarver’s decision to sell the Suns and Mercury. “This is the right next step for the organization and community,” it read.
Per recent developments, former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, along with former Disney CEO Bob Iger, ex-Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, and Wizards minority owner Laurene Jobs are frontrunners to buy the NBA team.
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