The NBA appears to be close to selecting a winning bid for the owner of the Las Vegas expansion team.
The NBA is expected to select the winning bid “in the very near future,” according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. The deal is expected to be worth at least $12 billion. A specific timeline is not yet known.
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There are apparently three finalist groups in place, too. The first is one led by Nancy Walton Laurie and Bill Laurie. The second is Steve Apostolopoulos and Marc Lasry. The third is a group led by Bill Foley and Jerry Colangelo.
Nancy Walton Laurie is the daughter of Walmart co-founder James Walton. Her husband, Bill, used to own the NHL’s St.Louis Blues, too. The couple already have a home in the Las Vegas area and have an estimated net worth of more than $17 billion, according to Forbes. The Walton family is part of the ownership group of the NFL’s Denver Broncos, too.
Lasry is the former co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, though he sold his stake in the team to Jimmy and Dee Haslam at a $3.5 billion valuation in 2023. He would be a partner in the group led by Apostolopoulos, a Canadian billionaire who attempted to purchase both the Charlotte Hornets and NFL’s Washington Commanders.
Colangelo is the former owner of the Phoenix Suns. The Hall of Famer, who also was the longtime managing director of USA Basketball, sold the Suns in 2004 for a then-record $401 million. He’s currently the chairman of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, too.
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Colangelo is teaming up with Foley, who owns the NHL’s Las Vegas Golden Knights and AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League. Colangelo’s Las Vegas Jacks group is on board, too, which includes former Turner Sports president David Levy, Scott Solangelo and others.
The NBA has been looking into expansion for years now, and has confirmed that both Las Vegas and Seattle are the two frontrunner cities. The $12 billion price tag that Charania reported on Tuesday is in line with the most recent sale of an NBA franchise. The Los Angeles Lakers were sold last month for a record $12.5 billion to a group led by Josh Kushner and Bob Iger. That made it the most expensive sports franchise sale in North America.
While the Las Vegas team appears to be close to coming together, the status of a future Seattle franchise — which would presumably revive the SuperSonics — is still unknown.
This post will be updated with more information shortly.
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