NBA Approves Sales Of Detroit Pistons To Tom Gores

Karen Davidson, the widow of longtime Pistons owner Bill Davidson, put the team up for sale last year. Gores lives in Los Angeles where he runs a major investment firm, but is a Michigan native and proud Michigan State University alum. There’s no chance he relocates the Pistons, despite the team’s need for a new arena as the Palace ages.

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The Detroit Pistons have been sold to Tom Gores for $420 million, according to the Detroit Free Press. The deal includes the Palace of Auburn Hills and a music venue, as well. The Pistons have not announced the deal; in fact, franchise owner Karen Davidson released a statement on Friday saying that she and Gores had agreed to extend their exclusive negotiating window by 14 days.

The Free Press, however, reports that just details need to be ironed out.

Gores, 46, grew up in Flint, Mich., and attended Michigan State. He made his billions as the found of a Los Angeles-based equity firm. It’s unclear whether, like the NBA’s other billionaires like Paul Allen and Mark Cuban, Gores would be a free spender for the Pistons, or whether he would see the Pistons’ eternal profits as an addition to his profit margin.

Davidson has been attempting to offload the Pistons since her husand, Bill, died in 2009. Mr. Davidson had purchased the Pistons in the 1970s for just $7 million; the franchise is believed to be worth at least $400 million today, and has long been one of the NBA’s most profitable enterprises.