There are question marks surrounding how the Boston Celtics will operate in the future now that Bill Chisholm is set to take over as majority owner.
Even Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens doesn’t know exactly what is in store for the illustrious franchise with Chisholm at the helm.
Chisholm will be faced with a massive bill that could exceed — when factoring in luxury tax — $500 million to keep together a championship roster. And to make matters more interesting, Wyc Grousbeck is expected to stay on his role as governor of the Celtics until 2028.
Stevens has a good feeling about the ownership change, but he does want one thing from Chisholm and Grousbeck going forward.
“My only thing is just asking to be kept in the loop on everything I need to know from the standpoint of making decisions here and now and moving forward,” Stevens told reporters Wednesday following shootaround, per MassLive’s Souichi Terada. “As we get to spend more time with Bill, with Wyc and Bill, then we’ll have more clarity on how we are going to do things.
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“But really, every indication is it’s pretty much business as usual, so I’m excited about that. But again, you spend a lot of money on these things, so you have every right to come in and put your stamp on it however you want. So I’m looking forward to working with him.”
Stevens said he spoke with Chisholm, who was around the Celtics for their win over the Sacramento Kings on Monday night, a few times since Chisholm and his investors purchased the organization for a record $6.1 billion.
Chisholm has said all the right things since his bid got accepted. The Massachusetts native understands the Celtics are in a terrific position to be the first NBA team since the 2017-18 Golden State Warriors to repeat. And that hasn’t happened by accident.
But to sustain that success even more, Chisholm will be faced with difficult decisions. And Stevens will be ready to help in any way he can.
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“Everybody’s got to just be themselves, right, and bring their own authenticity to it,” Stevens said. “When you buy a team and when you are invested like that, then he’s gonna bring great ideas. We’ll operate and execute plans that ultimately he wants to. I’ve been really impressed with how committed he seems to be to learning more about how we’ve done things, both the business side and the basketball side.
“And also the idea that I think he recognizes that we’ve got a good thing going. For me, the most important thing in this whole transition is just the people that I work with feel comfortable. I think that clearly from every indication of every conversation I’ve had with Bill, I do, and I think everybody should.”