Nike co-founder Phil Knight will not be the next owner of the Portland Trail Blazers.
On Tuesday, the estate of late Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen said it was finally selling the team. Allen died in 2018, and his will requires his sister to sell his pro sports holdings, which include the Seattle Seahawks.
The estate is hiring investment bank Allen & Company and law firm Hogan Lovells as financial and legal advisers, respectively. The estate said Tuesday that the Seahawks were not for sale.
Paul Allen bought the Trail Blazers for $70 million in 1988; the team is currently valued at $3.5 billion by Forbes.
Knight, 87, has the money, local ties, and a previous longstanding interest in buying the team.
The Portland native’s net worth is widely reported to be north of $30 billion, and his Blazers connections date back decades. The Blazers were some of Nike’s earliest endorsers in the 1970s.
“Five years ago, when I was a younger man, I had a great interest in being a part of the Portland Trail Blazers franchise,” Knight said in a statement. “However, at my current age, I can confirm that I no longer have interest.”
In 2022, Knight and Dodgers co-owner Alan Smolinisky made an offer worth more than $2 billion to purchase the team. The offer wasn’t just rebuffed—it didn’t even lead to a direct conversation.
“Phil Knight and I have not spoken,” Allen told The Wall Street Journal in 2023.
The process to sell the Trail Blazers is expected to continue into the 2025–26 NBA season, according to the statement.
