Could Detroit Lions' owner Sheila Ford Hamp buy the Detroit Pistons?
The Detroit Pistons have become the forgotten team in Detroit as of late. There's good reason for it too. They are the worst team in the NBA and are currently on their way to the worst record in franchise history. Of course, this is one year after they set their current worst record in franchise […]
The Detroit Pistons have become the forgotten team in Detroit as of late. There's good reason for it too. They are the worst team in the NBA and are currently on their way to the worst record in franchise history. Of course, this is one year after they set their current worst record in franchise history.
I love basketball and I love the Pistons. But like most, I've stopped watching this year. Not everyone has. Some are still going to the games. An interesting fan showed up to the last game. One Lions fans are very familiar with.
This tweet from Bally Sports reporter Bradley Merlo sparked a string of tweets from Detroit sports fans and almost all of them said a variation of "buy the team please."
It's not at all hard to believe why Pistons fans want this. Current owner Tom Gores bought the team in 2011 and the Pistons have racked up a record of 399-648. The Pistons have had one winning record in that time and that was in 2016. They've been to the playoffs twice and this year the team set an NBA record for consecutive losses with 28 straight.
Meanwhile the Lions have dug themselves out of futility since Hamp became the teams owner. She fired Matt Patricia and Bob Quinn halfway through her first year as the teams owner and then hired Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell. She also surrounded herself and Lions president Rod Wood with football people. Something the team hadn't done before.
Now the Lions are coming off a trip to the NFC Championship game after winning their first divsion title in over 30 years and their first playoff win in over 30 years. They also had a franchise best 12 wins. Now the Lions are a possible Super Bowl team in 2024.
Pistons fans want to feel those feelings pretty bad, but could Hamp buy the team? The first part is up to Tom Gores. In December he said the fans chanting "sell the team" was ridiculous sighting that the Pistons do a lot in the community. That points to the idea that Gores has no intension to sell.
While you might be hoping that the league would step in at some point and force Gores to sell since he's killing the Detroit market, NBA commissioner Adam Silver pretty much shut that idea down in March and had a lot of praise for the Pistons.
But, if Gores were to sell, what's the cost of the Pistons? While the Pistons are one of the cheaper teams in the league, there's still a massive price tag for them. Forbes currently values the team at just over $3 billion.
Pro Football Network had Hamp ranked as their 23rd richest owner in the NFL and reported that she had a net worth of $2 billion. That, of course, may not be true because net worth reporting's are often untrue. They're either inflated or deflated. The only people that know the truth are really the only people who should know the truth.
But for argument sake, if that was her net worth, that doesn't mean she couldn't buy the team. She would most likely have to do so as part of group. She would be the majority owner, but would have a group that has a share. Similar to the way the Atlanta Hawks operate where former Piston Grant Hill and others are minority owners, but Anthony Ressler is the guy that heads up the group.
So it's certainly possible, but it's completely up to her if she'd want to go into the basketball world as well. Even if Hamp doesn't, the Pistons desperately need new ownership.
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