The Bucks were chased out of the playoffs in chaotic fashion Tuesday night, falling 119–118 to the Indiana Pacers to lose their first-round series in five games. After the loss, Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo was confronted by Tyrese Haliburton’s father, John, on the court, and then faced questions about his future in Milwaukee.
“I’m not going to do this,” Antetokounmpo said when asked if he thinks he could still win another title in Milwaukee. “Whatever I say, I know it’s going to translate. I don’t know man. I wish I was still playing.
None of that is Marc Lasry’s problem now.
Lasry, along with private equity billionaire Wes Edens, bought the team from former senator Herb Kohl in 2014 for $550 million. In 2021, the team won its first NBA championship since 1971 when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was on the roster.
The Bucks have failed to make a deep playoff run since their title and it’s hard to see one in the near future after Damian Lillard tore his left Achilles on Sunday. This past season, the Bucks had a top-five payroll in the NBA and lack the draft capital to quickly retool.
Lasry sold his 25% stake of the team to Browns owner Jimmy Haslam in 2023. He recently sat for a Front Office Sports interview and was asked whether Antetokounmpo’s uncertain future played into his decision to sell.
“That was a factor,” Lasry told FOS. “I’m not going to tell you it wasn’t. I thought it was going to cost a lot to keep the team. That was one factor. I think the second is the team was getting older, and would Giannis stay? And so I thought it was going to be hard to recapture everything and to do everything. So I sort of looked at it like now may be a good time.”
Lasry sold his stake for $875 million, which meant the franchise was valued at $3.5 billion. The team is currently valued at $4 billion by Forbes, 15th among NBA teams. Lasry said he sees parallels between his sale and Wyc Grousbeck recently agreeing to sell the Celtics for $6.1 billion, less than a year after winning the NBA Finals.
“People will always pay a premium for someone who’s a winner,” Lasry said. “It’s harder when you’re not winning. I think Wyc found that out. If I said to you, somebody’s going to pay you $6 billion for a team that doesn’t own an arena and a team that is losing money because they’re in luxury tax, you would have thought I was crazy. So I think there’s a lot to the fact that people want to win a championship and will pay for that.”
