Buy low, sell high.

That seems to be the strategy at work in recent sales of NBA teams, the most recent being the storied Boston Celtics. The club’s ownership group, Boston Basketball Partners L.L.C., announced today its “intention to sell all the shares of the team.”

The sale is likely to set a record for an NBA franchise.

The announcement comes just weeks after the Celtics won a record 18th NBA Championship. It also comes just hours after the team locked in the core players who won that championship, including Jayson Taytum, who got the largest contract in league history today (a five-year, $315 million deal) and Derek White (a four-year, $125.9 million extension).

In fact, many observers say the league has never been this stacked, talent-wise, with foreign players expanding the talent pool and a potential must-see prodigy now attached to one of the league’s flagship franchises after 20-year-old (and 7’6″) Frenchman Victor Wembanyama signed with the San Antonio Spurs.

Also fortuitous: The NBA is on the cusp of what should be it’s biggest media rights deal ever, thought to be worth about $76 billion. That deal is expected by many to be the peak of such agreements for the league, with subsequent deal totals declining. It is further expected to be coupled with exorbitant expansion fees in coming years as the league looks to expand its number of teams. Those fees are shared among owners of existing franchises. The last NBA media rights deal had a nine-year term. The upcoming agreement is expected to be along those lines, time wise.

Case in point is the team the Celtics beat last month to win the championship. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban — no slouch himself at the art of “buy low, sell high” — received approval in December to sell the team for about $3.5 billion. That’s a cool $3-plus billion over his purchase price and Cuban will reportedly retain 27% of the team and may well retain control of basketball operations.

According to Yahoo Sports, Cuban has expressed concern that the broadcast deal after this one (likely after 2030) could fall victim to the sports broadcast rights bubble bursting.

The record valuation for an NBA team is the $4 billion Matt Ishbia agreed to in 2022 for the Phoenix Suns. While Phoenix is a hot market with and has a good roster, it doesn’t come close to the reigning champs, who have better players from top to bottom, a rabid fan base and arguably the greatest lore of any team in the league.

Sources cited by Sports Business Journal “suspect the team could sell for well above $5B, after Forbes valued the franchise at $4.7B in 2023.”

Boston Basketball Partners LLC said the sale is being made “for estate and family planning considerations. The managing board expects to sell a majority interest in 2024 or early 2025, with the balance closing in 2028.”

Don Sweeney was candid on Thursday when asked about Boston’s top needs entering free agency.

“We’d like to deepen the middle of the ice,” Boston’s general manager acknowledged. “So that’s where we’ve been focused to have those talks with our group, to say, ‘OK, who would be the guy?’ And hopefully make the pitch at the right time that we could add a player like that, of that nature. And we’ll continue to look to strengthen our back end and complement the group we have there.”

Given Sweeney’s offseason to-do list, it came as little surprise that Boston reportedly shored up both the center position and blue line shortly after NHL free agency commenced on Monday afternoon. 

According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, the Bruins have signed center Elias Lindholm and defenseman Nikita Zadorov — add defensive fortitude up front and some heft on the blue line.

According to Chris Johnston of The Athletic, Lindholm’s deal with Boston is for seven years and $7.5 million per season, while Zadorov’s deal is for six years with an annual cap hit of $5 million.

This will mark the third team that both Lindholm and Zadorov have played on together — with the duo also sharing a dressing room with both the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks.

Lindholm has been linked to the Bruins for some time, with the 29-year-old pivot holding plenty of appeal as a 200-foot center capable of impacting the game in a variety of ways. 

The Swedish pivot has held court as one of the better two-way pivots in the game for the last few seasons — posting four seasons of 50+ points in his career while also finishing second in voting for the 2021-22 Selke Trophy as the league’s top defensive forward.

The 2023-24 season was a down year for Lindholm in terms of his baseline production, especially after getting slotted to the wing with Vancouver. He finished with 44 points (15 goals, 29 assists) over 75 games, but did elevate his play in the postseason (10 points in 13 games) while dominating in faceoffs all year (56.4 percent). 

Given his hefty price tag, there are questions about whether or not Lindholm is really a bonafide top-line center — or more of an effective second-line, 200-foot stalwart. 

But on Boston’s roster, he will quickly take over as the team’s top center — allowing the Bruins to either push Pavel Zacha to the wing or slot Charlie Coyle further down the depth chart. 

He might be more of a 60-point player, but a full season stapled next to David Pastrnak could help Lindholm recoup the elite scoring touch he displayed in 2021-22 with Calgary (42 goals, 82 points). 

While Lindholm will provide more refined, two-way player up front for Boston, Zadorov will land plenty of welts on the back end.

The 29-year-old Zadorov is an already imposing figure at 6-foot-6 and 248 pounds — and sure plays like it. 

The Russian-born blueliner is one of the most physical players in the league, posting six seasons with at least 175 hits on his resume. Zadorov played arguably his best hockey for Calgary and Vancouver in 2023-24 — scoring six goals and 20 points over 75 games while landing 177 hits and 68 blocks. 

He further elevated his stock during the postseason for the Canucks — scoring four goals and eight points over 13 games while clearing opposing skaters out of Grade-A ice.

Zadorov rounds out the left side of Boston’s defense alongside Hampus Lindholm and Mason Lohrei, although it remains to be seen whether or not the Bruins envision him as more of a third-pairing regular or a possible top-pairing partner next to Charlie McAvoy. 

With Lindholm and Zadorov accounting for a combined $12.75 million cap hit, the Bruins might have to dive in the bargain bin for more scoring help this offseason — with a majority of their remaining camp space likely allocated toward Jeremy Swayman’s pending pay raise. 

Justin Timberlake has appeared to joke about his recent drink-driving arrest at a concert in Boston.

The Grammy Award-winning pop star was arrested in Sag Harbor, a wealthy village in the Hamptons in New York State last month.

In a video shared on social media over the weekend, Timberlake tells a crowd at Boston’s TD Garden arena: “Is there anyone here that is driving, no I’m just kidding.”

Fans appear to laugh and cheer as he continues to address the crowd.

Sag Harbor Village Police Department said Timberlake was pulled over at 12.37am local time (5.27am UK time) on Tuesday 18 June after officers saw him “failing to stop at a duly posted stop sign and failing to maintain his lane of travel” while driving a BMW.

An officer described his eyes as “bloodshot and glassy” and said a “strong odour of an alcoholic beverage was emanating from his breath”, according to court documents.

“He was unable to divide attention, he had slowed speech, he was unsteady afoot and he performed poorly on all standardised field sobriety tests,” the court papers added.

A source told Page Six, the New York Post’s celebrity and entertainment site, that Timberlake said “under his breath” during the arrest: “This is going to ruin the tour.”

Timberlake has strongly denied the allegations, with his lawyer saying he looks forward to “vigorously defending” the singer.

The 43-year-old, who first found fame as a member of the pop band NSYNC, was held overnight after his arrest until he was arraigned at Sag Harbor Village Justice Court and released.

A court date is scheduled for 26 July.

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Timberlake previously appeared to address the arrest on stage, saying “it’s been a tough week” during a performance in Chicago last month.

He is set to continue his series of US shows with performances due to take place in Baltimore, Maryland, Cleveland, Ohio, and Lexington, Kentucky.

He is due to perform in Birmingham, Manchester and London in the UK in August.