Sources - Marc Lasry agrees to sell Bucks to Haslams for $3.5B

Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry has reached an agreement to sell his portion of the Bucks to Cleveland Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam for a $3.5 billion valuation, sources told ESPN.

The deal, which sources said is still pending league approval, would be the second-highest valuation ever for an NBA team, only being surpassed by the $4 billion purchase of the Phoenix Suns by Mat Ishbia from Robert Sarver that was completed earlier this month. It would also be the third highest for any American professional sports team, also trailing the $4.65 billion the Denver Broncos went for last June.

The Bucks sale is just the latest in a series of escalating prices for NBA teams in recent years. Before Ishbia's purchase, the previous record was Joe Tsai buying the Brooklyn Nets for $2.3 billion in 2019. That was preceded by Tilman Fertitta spending $2.2 billion to land the Houston Rockets in 2017, and Steve Ballmer paying $2 billion to buy the LA Clippers in 2014.

It was also in 2014 that Lasry bought the Bucks, alongside fellow New York hedge fund financier Wes Edens, for $550 million from longtime U.S. Senator Herb Kohl. Since then, the Bucks — behind two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo — have been one of the NBA's premier franchises, accumulating the fifth-most wins in the NBA over that span, and claiming the 2021 NBA championship — the franchise's second overall, and its first in 50 years.

Lasry and Edens also spearheaded the building of Fiserv Forum, the downtown arena the Bucks play in, which opened in 2018, along with the surrounding Deer District. Lasry also plans to retain downtown Milwaukee real estate holdings after the sale, sources said.

Milwaukee has also been willing to push well into the