With the Philadelphia Eagles now back in the Super Bowl, owner Jeffrey Lurie appears to be heat-checking.
On his self-titled podcast this week, Bill Simmons of The Ringer reported that Lurie has emerged as a finalist in the race to purchase the NBA’s Boston Celtics. Simmons says the team recently made cuts among their prospective buyers and that Lurie is now one of the last five or so people left standing.
“The Celtics – it was the first round of the buyers, that they had to cut down all the prospective buyers,” said Simmons, per WEEI in Boston. “Like, five people made the first round, four or five people. One of the people was the Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, who’s apparently from Massachusetts.”
Simmons also noted that a handful of NFL majority owners also own NBA teams, such as Stan Kroenke (Los Angeles Rams and Denver Nuggets) as well as Josh Harris (Washington Commanders and Philadelphia 76ers).
The 73-year-old Lurie has owned the Eagles since 1994, overseeing four total Super Bowl berths (including this year) and one Lombardi Trophy victory. As Simmons hinted at, Lurie is a native of Boston and attended a trio of universities in Massachusetts (Clark University, Boston University, and Brandeis University).
As for the Celtics, the 18-time NBA champions who just won another title last season, they were put up for sale by longtime owner Wyc Grousbeck last year. A few massive names have taken themselves out of the running to buy the Celtics, and that may open the door for someone like Lurie, who has an estimated net worth of over $5 billion, to swoop in and purchase the team.
