Former Boston Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck’s time serving as the team’s governor will come to an end sooner than expected, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
“Wyc Grousbeck will no longer stay on as governor as part of the Boston Celtics' $6.1 billion sale to Bill Chisholm,” Charania wrote in a post to X. “[The] plan had been for Grousbeck to remain through 2028. Chisholm assumes [the] governor title and the transfer will be finalized soon.”
As Charania noted, the initial plan when Chisholm’s purchase had been announced was for Grousbeck to remain involved for the first few years after the sale. He would ease the transition and provide insight from his 23 seasons of owning the franchise.
The succession scheme made lots of sense considering how successful the Celtics were under Grousbeck’s regime. Since he and his partners took over in 2002, the Cs missed the postseason just three times, making nine Eastern Conference Finals appearances and winning two NBA Championships in that span.
All of the success made it all the more shocking when he and his family put the team up for sale shortly after the 2024 NBA Finals came to a close. The news was as scary as it was shocking for fans, as ownership can oftentimes make or break a franchise. Boston was spoiled with Grousbeck’s willingness to spend money in order to compete for titles, but not all owners are built the same way.
Celtics fans have no reason not to trust Bill Chisholm... yet
So far, Chisholm, a Massachusetts native and lifelong Celtics fan, has said and done all of the right things to earn the fanbase’s trust.
"The team is in a great place right now, and I'm very sensitive to that,” Chisholm told Charania back in March when the agreement was first announced. “Wyc, Brad (Stevens) and Joe (Mazzulla) have done amazing jobs," Chisholm raved. "My approach is to win and raise banners. That's in the near term and the long term."
Of course, it’s very easy to tell people what they’d like to hear, but doing things to back it up is a different story. It’d be unfair to blame all of this offseason’s salary cap reconstruction on Chisholm’s arrival, especially because Grousbeck publicly said that these sorts of moves were coming, more or less.
To his credit, Chisholm was a staple at TD Garden from March on, even at meaningless games towards the end of the regular season.
"I bleed green,” he raved to Shams. “I love the Celtics. When opportunity came up, I couldn't pass it up. Wyc has done an incredible job. So why would you mess that up? I've had a couple of sitdowns with Brad and it's been about aligning our goals, and extending the window of this team."
Tuesday’s news came as a surprise to some, but not all. When the initial reports surfaced that Grousbeck would stay on, many were skeptical that Chisholm would pay $6.1 billion and then let someone else make the decisions. The skeptics were right, and as tough as it may be to see Grousbeck go, it’ll be a positive that there’s no confusion on who is responsible for any impending moves in Boston -- especially during this weird time.
On the other hand, despite Grousbeck’s ousting making plenty of logical sense, it does feel a bit strange that the plan changed. It’s only been five or so months since Chisholm came on, and we’ve already seen the first example of him not walking the walk after talking the talk. This isn’t a “sound the alarms” moment. Chisholm probably still intends to make the best decisions for the franchise, but just wants to make the decisions himself. But if things eventually go sour, August 12, 2025, will be a date that people reference as the first domino.