Jimmy Haslam is one of the rare sports owner to have his fingerprints all over a pair of massive deals in two different sports in the same month.
With the Milwaukee Bucks trading Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat, barely three weeks after the Cleveland Browns traded Myles Garrett, Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports reports that the Browns owner was a “driving force” in the decision to pick the Heat deal over an offer from the Boston Celtics that included Jaylen Brown.
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As O’Connor explains it, “Haslam didn’t want to risk Jaylen Brown wanting out of Milwaukee in a year after dealing with Giannis and Myles Garrett trade demands.” Instead, Haslam wanted the “certainty” that comes from having draft picks. (Until, of course, those players selected with the extra picks want out, too.)
Haslam’s involvement with the Bucks is no surprise. It became clear last month that he’d be taking a more active role in the NBA team he partially owns.
Which serves as a reminder that owners always have the right to take an active role in roster management — regardless of whether they have the skills, knowledge, and/or ability to do so.
In Cleveland, Haslam has been the common denominator through the last 14 years of dysfunction. Now, dysfunction could be descending on Wisconsin’s NBA franchise.
At least dysfunction is easier to spell than Antetokounmpo.
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