• Former NBA player Junior Bridgeman is set to buy a 10% stake in the Milwaukee Bucks, three people familiar with the matter said.
  • Bridgeman, the current owner of Ebony and Jet Magazines, is receiving a preferred limited partner discount to buy part of the team he played for from 1975 to 1984, the sources said.
  • The deal values ​​the team at $4 billion.

Businessman and former NBA player Ulysses Lee “Junior” Bridgeman will acquire a 10% stake in the Milwaukee Bucks, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The deal will value the team at $4 billion.

NBA owners will be informed of the sale in a memo Thursday, added the sources, who asked not to be named because details of the deal are not public.

Bridgeman, the current owner of Ebony and Jet magazines, is getting a 15 percent discount as a preferred sponsor, at a $3.4 billion valuation, to buy part of the team he played for from 1975 to 1984, the sources said.

He would have a net worth of over $600 million after finding success in a variety of businesses ranging from fast food chains to distributing Coca-Cola bottlings.

The Bucks declined to comment, and Bridgeman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Junior Bridgeman #2 of the Milwaukee Bucks looks to make a play against the Boston Celtics during a 1984 game at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.

Dick Raphael | National Basketball Association | Getty Images

Junior Bridgeman #2 of the Milwaukee Bucks looks to make a play against the Boston Celtics during a 1984 game at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.

The Milwaukee Bucks are owned by Jimmy and Dee Haslam, Wes Edens, and Jamie Dinan. The three ownership groups each own about 25% of the team.

It would mark the first NBA sale since the league signed a 11-year media agreement with Disney, ComcastNBCUniversal and Amazon First in July.

The deal shows that the Bucks, a small-market team, are continuing to grow. When former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry sold his 25% stake in the team to the Haslams last April, the team was valued at about $3.2 billion.

The team, which finished third in the NBA’s Eastern Conference last season, is losing money because it paid a $52 million luxury tax last seasonThe Bucks will likely pay a hefty luxury tax this season as they are paying Giannis Antetokounmpo $48 million, Damian Lillard $45 million and Khris Middleton $31 million for the 2024-25 season.

The Bucks have won two NBA championships, in 1971 and 2021.

Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.

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