NBA franchises are being sold left-and-right to equity firms that “specialize in buying and turning around distressed businesses.”, and this is good?

What’s it say? The franchises are DISTRESSED! What is it about the word “distressed” that makes this sound so good?

Does anyone get it?

Charlotte. Detroit. New Jersey. The Sixers the other day. All in the last two years. The league had to buy New Orleans because they couldn’t find a buyer….and still can’t. The Kings tried to move to get a plum deal in Orange County because the owners are having financial trouble both with their team and in their other holdings. Milwaukee’s owner wants to sell but he’s waiting behind the New Orleans thing. And that’s only what’s been made public. On and on it goes.

Sure, the new TV contract is going to right all wrongs. And TV wants the the superior players in the large markets and the other markets to be development teams feeding them the players.

A tipping point here. Either the NBA takes control of it’s league and becomes like the NFL, or it lets ESPN and Nike buy it off and make it like MLB – as Barkley says, “4 good teams and the rest of the league stinks.”