After 16 months under the ownership of the NBA, the New Orleans Hornets have been sold to Tom Benson, who owns the NFL’s New Orleans Saints.
The sale was announced Friday by the Saints. On the team’s Twitter account was a post that confirmed “Tom Benson as the new owner of the New Orleans (at)Hornets!”
The NBA and the Hornets have yet to make an official announcement. The NBA’s Board of Governors will vote on the sale Friday afternoon, the New Orleans Times-Picayine reported.
The Associated Press reported that the team was sold for $338 million. The Times-Picayune reported Benson will assume the team’s current debt of $125 million.
According to Forbes Magazine’s most recent assessment of NBA teams, the Hornets were valued at $285 million. In December 2010, the NBA bought the Hornets for $310 million from George Shinn, who financed a majority of the deal.
Shinn had been unable to reach agreement on a sale to Gary Chouest, a former minority owner of the team. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said he offered $350 million for the Hornets in 2010 but was turned down.
The league bought the team to prevent Shinn from possibly selling to someone who would move the team from New Orleans.
While still under league ownership in December, the Hornets traded superstar point guard Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers in a three-team deal that would have netted New Orleans four rotation players. NBA commissioner David Stern voided the trade for “basketball reasons,” and Paul was dealt to the LA Clippers shortly thereafter.
SheridanHoops.com has not exactly been a proponent of Stern’s action.
Having fortified a once-flagging fan base, the Hornets are clearly rebuilding and are last in the Western Conference with a 16-42 mark. They have been hit hard by injuries this season, including one to guard Eric Gordon, the centerpiece of the appoved deal for Paul.
The Hornets’ approach to rebuilding hasn’t exactly enthralled us, either.
This offseason will be a crucial one for the Hornets. They will have two of the top 14 picks – their own and Minnesota’s – in a deep draft and could have as much as $25 million in salary cap room to spend on a fertile free agent market.