Top 3 basketball teams’ sales

Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver has announced his plans to sell the Suns and its subsidiary WBA team Phoenix Mercury. Reports suggest that there are several interested buyers for the Suns, including former Disney CEO Bob Iger, who had previously expressed interest in buying the Suns. 

Sarver’s decision to sell the club came eight days after he was suspended by the NBA for one year after a probe found him guilty of “workplace misconduct”. He was also fined $10 million.

Also read: Robert Sarver to sell Phoenix Suns: Who can be the new owner

The Suns are valued at $1.8 billion at number 18 in Forbes’s 2021 list of most valuable NBA clubs. When Sarver bought it in 2004, he paid $410 million-  a record-breaking amount in the NBA then. 

As it goes up on sale soon, here’s a look at the three highest NBA team sales in history.

Three highest NBA team sales in history

Brooklyn Nets: $3.3 billion (2019)

The Nets were previously owned by Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who had bought the club in 2010 for $200 million. The new owner Joe Tsai, the co-founder of the Alibaba group, paid $3.3 million to acquire the club and its home stadium, the Barclays Center. 

Houston Rockets: $2.2 billion (2017)

Leslie Alexander, an American attorney, sold the Rockets to Tilman Fertitta, owner of Landry’s in 2017 for $2.2 billion, which also included the stadium. Alexander had owned the team for 24 years since 1993. When he bought the club, he paid $85 million for it. 

Also read: Robert Sarver’s net worth: All you need to know

Los Angeles Clippers: $2.0 billion (2012)

Clippers were acquired by Steve Ballmer, the investor who served as the CEO of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014. He bought the Clippers in the same year he stepped down from Microsoft. The previous owner, Donald Sterling, had paid $12.5 million to buy the club in 2012.