{"id":35002,"date":"2025-05-15T16:06:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T16:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/35002\/"},"modified":"2025-05-15T16:06:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T16:06:12","slug":"nike-co-founder-phil-knight-no-longer-interested-in-buying-portland-trail-blazers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/35002\/","title":{"rendered":"Nike co-founder Phil Knight \u2018no longer interested\u2019 in buying Portland Trail Blazers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nike co-founder Phil Knight is \u201cno longer interested<\/a>\u201d in purchasing the Trail Blazers<\/a>, according to Aaron Fentress of the Portland OREGONIAN. Knight along with Dodgers minority owner Alan Smolinisky reportedly made an offer in 2022<\/a> of just over $2B to purchase the Trail Blazers from the estate of Paul Allen, who died in 2018 at age 65. Among the benefits of Knight purchasing the team is the \u201clikelihood he would have kept the franchise in Portland,\u201d and \u201cput money into Moda Center and the Rose Quarter.\u201d Knight has reportedly donated about $1B to the Univ. of Oregon, \u201cdramatically benefiting its sports programs.\u201d Now, the \u201cpossibility at least exists that a new owner would look to move the franchise\u201d (Portland OREGONIAN, 5\/14<\/a>). BLOOMBERG NEWS\u2019 Kim Bhasin noted Knight, who stepped down as Nike Board Chair<\/a> in 2016, is \u201cno longer involved in day-to-day decisions\u201d at the company, though he \u201cstill helps guide senior management.\u201d In his \u201csemi-retirement,\u201d Knight\u2019s priorities have included philanthropy through his Knight Foundation and supporting academics and athletics programs at Oregon (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 5\/14<\/a>).<\/p>\n

NEXT IN LINE: In Portland, Bill Oram wrote the \u201ctime has come for someone else to step up for Oregon and its sports teams,\u201d for the \u201cnext generation of business leaders to come to the fore.\u201d Knight\u2019s commitment to the state and to his alma mater \u201care beyond admirable,\u201d and his \u201cimpact is singular.\u201d The notion that Knight, and he alone, was the \u201cfinancial antidote to any obstacle we encountered was a small-time way of thinking.\u201d Oram: \u201cWould Knight have made for a\u202fgood owner of the Portland Trail Blazers? Absofreakinglutely.\u201d But people who know Knight were \u201cmore surprised that he was interested in buying the Blazers three years ago than the fact he wasn\u2019t this time around.\u201d Even at 87, Knight could have \u201cbeen a meaningful steward for the franchise in this moment, as long as a purchase ensured a thoughtful succession plan.\u201d Oram: \u201cI would have loved to see what the Blazers could look like with the creative and business mind that created Nike driving its evolution. \u2026 It would have immediately made the Blazers more marketable beyond our humble borders.\u201d Ideal ownership for the Trail Blazers \u201cconsists of people who care as much about Portland as they do about the bottomline of the franchise\u201d (Portland OREGONIAN, 5\/14<\/a>).<\/p>\n

STICKING TO THE PLAN: Fentress in a separate piece cited sources as saying that Trail Blazers GM Joe Cronin\u202fand his staff will \u201cproceed through the offseason seeking to improve the team with no restrictions\u201d despite the franchise going up for sale yesterday. The NBA scouting combine is underway in Chicago, Ill., where Cronin, front office staff and coach Chauncey Billups analyze players ahead of the June 25-26 NBA draft. A new owner \u201ccould make staff changes and reset the franchise\u201d (Portland OREGONIAN, 5\/14<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nike co-founder Phil Knight is \u201cno longer interested\u201d in purchasing the Trail Blazers, according to Aaron Fentress of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3784],"tags":[7,601,7457,6,687,471,3967,1617],"class_list":{"0":"post-35002","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-portland-trail-blazers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-blazers","10":"tag-leadership","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-portland","13":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","14":"tag-portlandtrailblazers","15":"tag-trail-blazers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114512709850499958","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}