ESPN.com
The Associated Press
October 1st, 2019
By Adrian Wojnarowski
MEMPHIS, TN --- Memphis Grizzlies owner, Robert Pera, is finalizing a deal today to sell the franchise to Canadian business executive, Tom Gaglardi for a reported $1.5B. This is only a $200 million profit on the price that Pera agreed to purchase the team for in April of 2018. Pera was forced to sell due to the team seeing a significant decrease both in actual revenue last season and future revenue thanks to the departures of key stars Marc Gasol and Michael Conley Jr., and being outside the playoffs for the past two seasons.
Gaglardi is the 2nd richest man in British Columbia, Canada and is already the majority owner of another professional sports team, the Dallas Stars. Following the success of the Toronto Raptors on the east coast, claiming last year's NBA Championship, Gaglardi has decided that an attempt to revive basketball on Canada's west coast is in order. The team will be relocated back to Vancouver, where the Grizzlies franchise was originally founded in 1995. It has been nearly two decades since the city had an NBA team, and there is significant buzz and fanfare surrounding its return.
Reports suggest that Gaglardi will look to replace the front-office staff with new blood to lead the club's rebuild around young stars Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr. and the new "Big Country", Jonas Valanciunas. Reports are that Jermaine Washington, a rising talent in the Raptors 905 front office, will be given the chance to show his chops as a full-time NBA general manager. It is unclear for now whether he will also be installing a new coaching staff.
This is an exciting time for the basketball world and especially Canada. The NBA wants to become increasingly globalized, and another team outside the US only further serves that purpose. It is unfortunate, however, for Memphis fans that they will be losing their team and are unlikely to get another one in the future.