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In addition to Harris, Austin’s proposal was supported by NBA superstar Kevin Durant (who starred one year at the University of Texas), former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry and PEAK6 founder Jenny Just. All big names, but none with active control of an NBA team.
Marc Lasry: “I think valuations will go up. I don’t think you’re going to have the growth that I had where you could pay a dollar and you got paid $8 ten years later. When I was looking at selling, I thought values would keep going up about ten, fifteen percent a year. And I think that’s what’s going to continue happening… It’s not just going to stop. It can level off, it can go up 5%, it may go up 10%. I don’t think it’ll be going up 20% or 30%.”
Front Office Sports: How are you feeling about that decision and how hard was it to walk away? Marc Lasry: Well, I think it was hard. I don't think it's ever easy. Life's long dreams are either to play in the NBA or which that wasn't going to happen. So then it’s to be able to own a team. I think that was a phenomenal accomplishment. I loved it. I had a great time. I think in what I decided to sell, I thought it was probably the right time. I could have waited an extra year. I could have done it a year earlier. I think for me, I wanted to focus on a few other things and I thought it made sense.
Marc Lasry: When I was looking at selling, I thought values would keep going up about 10, 15% a year. And I think that's actually what's going to continue happening. That's not a big chop. Where you get a little bit more is when it's a control piece, right? Where people want to control. I think you'll see that continuing to go up. It's hard. Like it's not that it's just going to stop. It can level off. It can go up 5%. May go up 10. I don't think it'll be going up 20 or 30%.
Former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry believes NBA franchise valuations will continue to go up, but not at the explosive rate recently witnessed. Lasry, who alongside Wes Edens bought a total 50% stake in the Bucks at a $550 million valuation in 2014, sold his 25% stake in 2023 at a $3.5 billion valuation. That means the Bucks’ value increased by more than 218% over the course of their ownership.
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“I don’t think you’re gonna have the growth that I had, where you paid a dollar and you got paid $8 10 years later,” Lasry told Front Office Sports in the latest episode of Portfolio Players.
From Lasry’s perspective, the Celtics got a bit of a championship bump, something he also experienced when he sold his Bucks stake, as Giannis Antetokounmpo had led the Bucks to a championship less than two years prior. “People always pay a premium for someone who’s a winner,” he says.
A group trying to bring a team to the city has filed a formal bid with the WNBA, three sources briefed on the matter told The Athletic. Former Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry is the lead investor in the group trying to bring another team to Texas, through his investment firm, Avenue Capital, while perennial NBA All-Star Kevin Durant and former University of Texas star and Houston Comets player Fran Harris are both involved with the bid, according to a person briefed on the bid. The team would likely play at the Moody Center, where the Longhorns compete. The group plans to build a practice facility for the prospective team if it wins the bid.
Once TNT agreed to televise more than 45 games on TNT, truTV and Max, all in prime time, for $100 million over six years (with a three-year out), the league was solid oak. A $7 million seed round turned into a $28 million Series A, with A-list investors such as Carmelo Anthony, Michael Phelps, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Marc Lasry. Ally (which will have its logo on the front of all jerseys) was joined by partners such as Ticketmaster, Miller Lite and Under Armour.
Former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry is also weighing a bid for a potential Las Vegas franchise as part of a group that includes former WNBA star Candace Parker. “The team in Vegas could end up being one of the most profitable teams,” Lasry said in an interview. “It was hard to make money in Milwaukee. We got exceptionally lucky in that we drafted Giannis Antetokounmpo but I think you need to be in a city where irrespective of how good the team is you can make money.”
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The co-founder of a global investment firm with a home in Connecticut is embroiled in a legal battle with a former employee who has accused him of years of sexual harassment, documents show. In a lawsuit filed on Oct. 23, Gina Strum said she refused multiple advances of Marc Lasry, CEO and co-founder of Avenue Capital Group, while working with the New York-based firm. The lawsuit also alleges Lasry “fraudulently induced Strum into a business deal by promising her equity in a venture he knew at the time would not provide her with any equity opportunities.”
But days before Strum’s attorneys filed the lawsuit in New York County Supreme Court, Avenue Capital Group, Lasry and co-founder and President Sonia Gardner filed their own complaint against the former staffer on Oct. 18, claiming she was “engaged in a vindictive and wrongful attempt to blackmail and malign Avenue and its founders.”
Lasry, on selling his share of the Milwaukee Bucks: “I ended up selling because I have five kids, and shockingly, when I bought the team, I put it in trust for them. I had paid $500 million. This time, the team was worth about $3.5 billion. My son said, ‘We want the money now.’ I was like, ‘Well, it’s actually really nice owning the team.’ And he goes, ‘Yeah, we’d rather have the money.’ So, I ended up selling.
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