How sale of Boston Celtics removes big hurdle for Seattle Sonics possible return

SEATTLE - The reported sale of the Boston Celtics for over $6 billion on Thursday removes the biggest remaining hurdle for expansion talks to pick up in the NBA as Seattle continues to wait for the return of the Supersonics.

According to multiple reports, the Celtics are being purchased by Bill Chisholm for $6.1 billion – a value that makes it the most expensive sale in North American sports history. The Washington Commanders sold for $6.05 billion to Josh Harris in 2023, which had been the previous benchmark. The Phoenix Suns were the most expensive NBA sale, being bought by Mat Ishbia for $4 billion also in 2023.

The price tag being set by the Celtics sale will help the NBA set a valuation on expansion fees for prospective team owners.

The backstory:

NBA commissioner Adam Silver has said the league will consider league expansion during the 2024-25 season, but said they "weren't quite ready" in September.

"It was something that we told our board we plan to address this season, and we're not quite ready yet," Silver said, via Tim Bontempts of ESPN.com. "But I think there's certainly interest in the process, and I think that we're not there yet in terms of having made any specific decisions about markets or even frankly to expand."

The league wanted to get itself properly situated before broaching the expansion topic in greater detail. The NBA reached a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with its players in April 2023, and agreed to a new media rights deal in July 2024. The announcement by Wyc Grousbeck's ownership group last summer that they intended to sell the franchise after the NBA Finals put another piece of league business on the table to complete.

Seattle Kraken majority owner Samantha Holloway released a statement on Thursday after the sale of the Celtics.

"We understand that today's news will pique the interest of NBA fans in Seattle," Holloway said. "As we have said before, our ownership group is ideally positioned for an NBA team with Climate Pledge Arena and the incredible fans in Seattle, but we will always be respectful of the Commissioner's process and timeline."

Holloway is believed to be at the forefront of Seattle's efforts to bring the NBA back to Seattle. Holloway's father, the late David Bonderman, had a minority ownership stake in the Celtics. Even if the Celtics had not been put up for sale, the Bonderman family would have needed to divest their stake in the Celtics before entering into owning a new NBA franchise.

Bonderman passed away at age 82 in December.

Seattle and Las Vegas have been rumored as the leading candidates for NBA expansion. Silver has said he'd love to see a team in Mexico City. The league could also decide that expansion isn't in their best interests and hold onto the 30-team league they currently have.

It's been 17 years since the Supersonics last called Seattle home. The landscape for the league to return to the northwest has never been more ripe.

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