Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai has admitted he had ‘no idea’ how to be the owner of a sports franchise upon his initial investment into the team in 2017.
Tsai, a Taiwanese-Canadian billionaire who co-founded e-commerce company Alibaba, bought 49 percent of the Nets seven years ago before fully taking over for previous owner Mikhail Prokhorov in 2019.
And Tsai, by his own telling, didn’t have much knowledge of the NBA before investing his billions into the Nets, in quotes first reported by NetsDaily.
‘When Brooklyn Nets went up for the sale, this was in 2017, I really had no idea how to invest and be an owner of a sports team,’ Tsai said to Nicolai Tangen on the ‘In Good Company’ podcast.
‘Then I looked at the characteristics of the league, how the league shares economics. One of the great things about the NBA is that they have a very good collective bargaining agreement that splits the economics between the teams – the owners – and the players.
Joe Tsai first invested into the Brooklyn Nets in 2017, and bought the team in full in 2019
Tsai’s Nets traded away superstars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant last season
‘The players are really providing value, right, so they should get their fair share of the economics and that’s all set out in the collective bargaining agreement ,’he continued. ‘The other thing about the NBA is that all 30 teams – it doesn’t matter if you are competitive or not, there’s a mechanism for all teams, even the small markets, to be competitive and also make money.’
Tsai’s Nets have been far less competitive than they planned to be this season, with the team currently 32-48 and set to miss the postseason.
The disappointing campaign comes a year after the team abruptly pulled the plug on its Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving era, trading both disgruntled stars to the Western Conference after the pair – along with James Harden – managed just one postseason series win after arriving in Brooklyn.
The Nets expected a core of Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Cam Thomas and Nic Claxton to flirt with playoff contention this season, but were reminded just how tough it is to win without a genuine superstar.
Tsai said in the interview that a good quality of leadership is ‘being willing to admit mistakes’
And Tsai, asked about what leadership aspects are important to him, said ‘you have to be willing to admit mistakes.’
‘…You can’t pretend to be the smartest person in the room always,’ he said. ‘Sometimes, people are looking for that leadership.’
Tsai has certainly poured lots of his money into the Nets, spending a reported $323milllion in luxury tax penalties since buying the team, and also covering debts on construction of the Barclays Center, which he owns as well.
Still, his admission that ‘it doesn’t matter if you are competitive’ to make money as a franchise will spook some Nets fans.
Brooklyn will look for a new permanent head coach this offseason after firing Jacque Vaughn in February.