How much has Mat Ishbia paid to become the majority owner of the Phoenix Suns?
NBA owners have approved the sale of the Phoenix Suns and the WNBA’s Mercury to mortgage mogul Mat Ishbia, with the deal expected to close this week.
The NBA has announced that team owners have voted to approve the sale of the Phoenix Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury to mortgage lender Mat Ishbia. The billionaire had agreed to acquire the teams from embattled owner Robert Sarver in December of last year.
Four-billion dollar value
The deal, which values the teams at $4 billion, is expected to close later this week. This is nearly twice the average value of an NBA team, which has been pegged by Forbes at $2.2 billion. Server had acquired the team in 2004 for $401 million.
This is the biggest NBA team sale in the history of the league, according to Hoops Hype, although it does include the WNBA squad.
The closest price tag to the one attached to the Suns is the sale price of the Brooklyn Nets, sold for $3.3 billion to Joe Tsai, and previously purchased by Mikhail Prokhorov for $200 million.
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One abstention
The NBA Board of Governors, composed of team owners, approved the sale with a vote of 29-0, the Cleveland Cavaliers reportedly abstaining.
Ownership of the team had been up in the air since NBA Commissioner Adam Silver fined Sarver for $10 million and suspended him for a year after an investigation showed that he engaged in workplace misconduct, particularly involving women. Sarver was also found to have exhibited racist behavior. After his punishment was handed out, the businessman said he was entertaining buyers for the team.