Connecticut Sun deal never presented to WNBA board: Report
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The Connecticut Sun's Leila Lacan and the New York Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu in action during the second half at Mohegan Sun Arena on Aug 3.
PHOTO: AFP
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LOS ANGELES – A US$325 million (S$418.9 million) offer to purchase the Women’s National Basketball Association’s (WNBA) Connecticut Sun was agreed to by both buyer and seller in July, but the league never presented the details to the WNBA board of governors for approval, Front Office Sports reported on Aug 5.
The prospective purchase of the Sun by Boston Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca, from Connecticut’s Mohegan Tribe, remains in limbo.
Pagliuca has expressed the desire to move the team to larger arenas in New England and vowed to invest in a US$110 million practice facility. The desired relocation site is believed to be Boston.
Details of the agreed-to sale reportedly made their way to WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert but never to the board, which signs off on all ownership changes.
With the deal not approved during an “exclusivity” time period of less than a month, at least one other party has emerged as a potential buyer of the franchise, which the Mohegan Tribe purchased for US$10 million in 2003 and relocated from Orlando to Uncasville, Connecticut.
After Pagliuca made his interest in purchasing the Sun known, Front Office Sports reported this week, through a statement from the WNBA, that nothing has been approved and that relocation is decided by the board “and not by individual teams”.
The WNBA also noted that in the recent process to select Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia as future cities for expansion, there was no interest from a potential ownership group in Boston.
Based on that lack of interest, the league seemed to suggest that Boston is not a target market at the current time.
“No groups from Boston applied for a team at that time and those other cities remain under consideration based on the extensive work they did as part of the expansion process and currently have priority over Boston,” the league’s statement said.
In June, Engelbert expressed a hope for the league to move back into the Houston market.
Sun president Jennifer Rizzotti told reporters on Aug 3: “I can’t speak to where the team is going to go.
“But if Boston was an option, it’s hard to argue that they’re not a city that’s viable for a WNBA franchise.”
Meanwhile, in the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Celtics traded forward Georges Niang and two second-round draft picks to the Utah Jazz to acquire rookie forward R.J. Luis Jr, ESPN reported on Aug 5.
In addition to helping Boston with luxury tax issues, the trade clears a roster spot for Boston because Luis is on a two-way contract.
The Celtics are using that spot to sign forward Chris Boucher to a one-year, US$3.3 million contract, Boucher’s agent told ESPN.
Niang, 32, was sent from the Atlanta Hawks to Boston in a three-team trade in July, but the Massachusetts native will not play a game for the Celtics.
Niang averaged a career-best 9.9 points per game last season across 79 games split between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Hawks.
He has posted 7.4 points and 2.5 rebounds per game while shooting 39.9 per cent from three-point range across 544 career games (32 starts) for five teams. REUTERS
