Nike Co-Founder Phil Knight Included in $2 Billion Offer to Buy the Portland Trail Blazers, Report Says

An NBA franchise may soon have a new owner with ties to sneakers.

ESPN senior NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski first reported today that Nike co-founder Phil Knight, along with Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Alan Smolinisky, have made a push to own the Portland Trail Blazers. 

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“Nike founder Phil Knight and Dodgers co-owner Alan Smolinisky have made a $2 billion-plus written offer to purchase the Portland Trail Blazers, sources tell ESPN. Discussions are ongoing with the Paul Allen trust that’s overseeing ownership of team. Story soon,” Wojnarowski wrote via Twitter. 

In a subsequent tweet, Wojnarowski said the involvement of Knight in the proposed ownership group is an indication of its desire to keep the Trail Blazers in Portland.

In October 2021, Forbes ranked NBA teams in order of how valuable they were, and the Trail Blazers were positioned at No. 13 with a reported value of $2.05 billion.

Knight, who was appointed chairman emeritus after announcing his retirement as chairman of the Nike board of directors in June 2016, has a reported net worth of $47.5 billion, according to Forbes. The company he founded, which was established in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports before making Nike official in 1972, reported revenue of $44.5 billion last June for fiscal 2021, a 19% increase over the year prior.

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