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Where could the Blazers go if they decide to leave? If the NBA goes to Las Vegas or Seattle, it will be through expansion. The league is exploring that right now, and it wouldn’t pass up $6 billion-$10 billion in expansion fees. So where else could the Blazers go? Raleigh comes to mind. Dundon’s Hurricanes play there and their arena did just get renovated. Raleigh is roughly the same size media market as Portland, but the Hornets play 150 miles away. Austin — about 200 miles from Dallas, where Dundon lives — could make sense but the San Antonio Spurs are trying to expand their market to capture the city. Would the Memphis Grizzlies consent to Nashville accepting a new team?
Mike Vorkunov on Trail Blazers: My question has always been where would they go, right? If they were to leave, and I think the the probably the place that off the top of my head jumps out is Raleigh, North Carolina, right, which is where the Carolina Hurricanes, the hockey team that Tom Dundon owns and currently reside. And Portland is the 23rd largest media market in the country. Raleigh, the list I saw this morning is number 22. Portland probably has a larger population in its metro area but nonetheless, he has an arena there. I think they just refurbished it, so that's ready to move in.
At least with the Trail Blazers, Everett suspected something was afoot. After all, the notoriously frugal Tom Dundon bought the NBA franchise in March for $4.25 billion. When Dundon previously took over the NHL’s Hurricanes, he immediately overhauled the broadcast team and installed other belt-tightening measures. After being offered an 80% pay cut, veteran Canes play-by-play announcer Chuck Kaiton left after 39 seasons. Right on cue, Dundon wasted no time pinching pennies in Portland, earning him the nickname “El Cheapo” from Bill Simmons. Dumping a club’s existing broadcasters to cut costs seems to be the billionaire owner’s “modus operandi,” notes Everett.
Golden Knights owner Bill Foley will take time away from his vacation to return to Las Vegas to attend portions of NBA Summer League. Foley, who has been in wine country in Northern California escaping the triple-digit Southern Nevada heat since the Knights were beaten by the Carolina Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup Final, will be in Las Vegas this week as he and his group are in the midst of a bid to land an NBA expansions team. “I’m planning on coming back when they do the summer league and seeing if I can connect with a few people within the NBA,” Foley told the Review-Journal last week. “I was going to run back down to Vegas. I’m out of town right now. I try and get out when the temperature hits 100.”
Golden Knights owner Bill Foley will take time away from his vacation to return to Las Vegas to attend portions of NBA Summer League. Foley, who has been in wine country in Northern California escaping the triple-digit Southern Nevada heat since the Knights were beaten by the Carolina Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup Final, will be in Las Vegas this week as he and his group are in the midst of a bid to land an NBA expansions team.
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Vince Wolfram: Miami’s Malik Reneau has signed a deal with the Orlando Magic, per ADS Sports Management. The 2025–26 All-ACC First Team selection, who led the Hurricanes in scoring at 18.9 PPG last season, is headed to Orlando.
Eight years ago, the Dallas-based Dundon, who made his fortune in subprime auto lending, bought a downtrodden NHL franchise in Carolina and swiftly put his stamp on its operations. Now, after the league’s first 12-1 start to a postseason in 50 years, the Hurricanes are four wins away from their second Stanley Cup championship, with Game 1 against the Vegas Golden Knights set for Tuesday night. “I give him tons of credit,” coach Rod Brind’Amour said of Dundon. “We’ve been pretty solid ever since he showed up on the scene.” “He’s given everything he can to get us our best chance,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. “(He) changed it right from the start.” “He’s always looking for ways to chart an even better course,” general manager Eric Tulsky added.
To many who have worked with Dundon in hockey, whether on the Hurricanes or from the vantage point of the NHL’s league office, this recent avalanche of criticism from the basketball world has come as a surprise. In speaking for this story, they provided many colorful words to describe a man laser-focused on both winning games and eliminating inefficiencies — including “demanding,” “intense,” “data-driven” and “obsessive.” But “cheap” was not something any of them had experienced. “The fact of the matter is, he doesn’t always do things in traditional ways,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said. “I think in some ways he’s a bit of a disruptor, but he’s extraordinarily creative and effective. And the results in Carolina — they’re both on and off the ice.”
Brian Berger on Blazers owner Tom Dundon: "He's been a bull in a china shop so far. He's come in and just cut costs. He didn't allow t-shirts. I look at teams like the Knicks and the Spurs and you see all the former players sitting courtside and how the teams have embraced the former players. He got rid of a lot of the people that had connections to the former players last week when they laid off 70 people. He's cutting hotel costs. He's running this kind of like he runs the Carolina Hurricanes, his NHL team. You can't run an NHL team like you run an NBA team. I think there's still changes to come. Obviously we're probably going to have a different coach than Tiago Splitter. He's already talked about paying that coach as one of the lowest-paid coaches in the NBA. You might have a new GM, and you might have a team president."
On the notion he’s cheap: Tom Dundon: “My hockey team has been over the cap many times. They were the lowest in the league. They were at the floor when I bought them. You can go over the cap in hockey. If you have a hurt player, you can replace them. So I’ve been over the cap multiple times because there was a rule that allowed you to go over the cap. And at the same time, when I walk out of a room, I turn off the lights. And so that my friends make fun of me all the time. They’re telling me how bad I am at being rich. “I just don’t want to waste money. I want to invest it. I’ll have many masseuses. I’ll have the best food. We’re going to take care of the players, because it helps you win. It’s part of the deal. Some of the stuff about how we’re going to run the business; Portland spends 100 million more dollars a year on their business than the Hurricanes do, not including players.
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On the subject of moving the Blazers out of Portland: Tom Dundon: “When I bought the Hurricanes, all I heard — because I was from Texas — we were going to move the team to Houston. Moving a team is difficult. We didn’t move the Hurricanes. We ended up getting a deal done. We went through the same thing in Portland. Before I even bought the team, I had an agreement with the city and the state. We had an agreement in principle. They’ve already approved half of it. Assuming that all gets done, then this is a non-story. For me, it’s never been really a thing. We didn’t buy the team to move it. We bought the Portland Trail Blazers."
Mike Vorkunov: Tom Dundon said it was a "mistake" to not send 2-way players on the road. He said Blazers spend $100 million more than the Hurricanes. From his interview on the Game Over pod: "I'm just not gonna waste $100 million just because someone wants to write an article calling me cheap"
Tom Dundon said it was a "mistake" to not send 2-way players on the road. He said Blazers spend $100 million more than the Hurricanes. From his interview on the Game Over pod:
— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) May 16, 2026
"I'm just not gonna waste $100 million just because someone wants to write an article calling me cheap" pic.twitter.com/pjsan5zk6S
Mike Ozanian: Multiple sources have told me that Tom Dundon is close to selling a significant LP stake in the Carolina Hurricanes @Canes at a $2B valuation. Dundon is in the process of buying the Portland Trailblazers @trailblazers for over $4B. #NHL #NBA
The Portland Trail Blazers franchise will be sold to a group led by Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon. The price of the sail is expected to exceed $4 billion, as Dundon will own his second professional sports team. Dundon admitted last month that he’s “very excited” about the sale. The Trail Blazers’ valuation is listed at $3.65 billion according to CNBC’s latest Official NBA Team Valuations. Dundon purchased a stake in the Hurricanes in 2017 and became the team's majority owner in 2018, as the franchise has seen unparalleled success since his arrival.