With Brooklyn closing in on Year 1 of a rebuild, this is a vital time for the Nets.
Between a new hands-on role running Alibaba, buying a share of the Dolphins, and jetting back and forth from China, it’s a busy time for their owner.
But Joe Tsai reiterated his priority in Brooklyn is championships, not cash.
And when asked if he was interested in buying an NFL team, he replied no because he’s still focused on building the NBA franchise he already has into a winner.
“No, I still don’t feel like I’m an NFL owner,” said Tsai, who has a three percent stake in the Dolphins. “I’ve got to take care of the Brooklyn Nets first, which means you need to win first in the sport that you’re already involved in. So you’ve got to take care of business here.”
Tsai stressed the minority purchase in Miami was strictly financial, painting his ownership of the Nets as a labor of love.
The 61-year-old e-commerce billionaire — who bought a minority stake in the Nets in 2017, and took majority control two years later — was speaking at CNBC’s ‘CONVERGE’ leadership event in Singapore, discussing a wide range of topics.
Tsai — who co-founded Alibaba with Jack Ma — was prodded into returning to a hands-on role with the China-based giant, being named chairman of the board.
He discussed Alibaba’s AI strides, President Donald Trump’s tariffs and — most importantly to Brooklyn fans — the Nets.
“For a sports owner, the return season after season is winning. Every season, you’re trying to win the championship, so you want to win games, right?” Tsai asked rhetorically.
“You’re not looking at the income statement of the team from season to season, so I guess the final payoff for me is less financial — even though the financial aspects are important, I have to make sure that the bottom line investment can make sense — but at the end of the day, it’s through the love of sports. I have a passion for sports. That’s why I invested in these teams.”
Tsai’s investment in the Liberty returned a WNBA title this past season, with Tsai and his wife Clara set to double down on that by building the team a training facility in Brooklyn.
While Tsai forked over some of the heftiest luxury tax bills in NBA history when he had Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden together, Nets general manager Sean Marks has repeatedly praised ownership’s willingness to spend.
Now Tsai is giving a different kind of backing, in grudgingly taking on a rebuild in New York, something he’d initially hesitated over.
Marks signaled that rebuild the day he traded Mikal Bridges (for a record-tying five first-round picks) and re-acquired Brooklyn’s natural first-rounders this year and next.
The Nets, who fell 105-99 to the Pacers in overtime on Thursday night, are just 23-47.
They were tied for fifth in the lottery odds entering the night.
It’s a painful investment in the Nets’ future.
But the fans have supported it, Brooklyn drawing strong crowds down the stretch of this season.
All signs point to Tsai being in the Nets business for the long term.
The Converge event was before Thursday’s news that the reigning NBA champion Celtics had been sold for a record-breaking $6.1 billion.
For perspective, Tsai had paid roughly $3.3 billion for the Nets and Barclays Center.
As recently as 2023, Forbes reported they were the only NBA team to lose money, but by last year they’d turned a $43 million profit.
And last summer, Tsai sold a 15 percent stake in BSE Global — the parent company of the Nets, Liberty and Barclays Center — to Julia Koch at a hefty $6 billion valuation.
“Everybody thought I overpaid for it,” said Tsai. “But seven years later, I didn’t overpay.”