Celtics' Steven Pagliuca had near-controlling Nets stock

NBA

by Brian Lewis and Josh Cosman

With former Nets star Kyrie Irving playing in the NBA Finals, some Brooklyn fans are playing a wistful game of “what if.”

But Irving isn't the only homegrown star who could potentially change the trajectory of several teams, including Brooklyn, as the series heads to Game 3 in Dallas on Wednesday.

Celtics minority owner Steven Pagliuca was on the verge of becoming the effective owner of the Nets, a big move that could have had ramifications for both Brooklyn and Boston.

Pagliuca, born in New York and raised in New Jersey, teamed up with Joe Tsai to nearly buy the Nets from Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov in 2017.

“I was honored to be contacted by the Nets in 2017 to inspect the club,” Pagliuca told The Post on Tuesday, “but after consideration, I decided my heart was with the Celtic and subsequently invested further capital in the Celtic franchise and the Italian Serie A soccer team, Atalanta.”

In 2017, Prokhorov was facing pressure from Russian President Vladimir Putin to sell the team.

The bidding process was so complicated that Pagliuca, a minority owner of the Celtics for more than 20 years, was meant to become the Nets' controlling shareholder, but Tsai actually put up more money.

But Tsai ultimately rejected it.

He made a solo bid for the Nets, but Pagliuca also bought Serie A's Atalanta and increased his stake in the Celtics, who currently lead 2-0 in the NBA Finals.

“I'm happy that Atalanta won the European Championship. [League] “The Celtics have won their first championship in franchise history and will be in the Champions League next year,” Pagliuca told the Post. “I'm also fortunate that the Celtics are playing in the NBA championship this week. My passion for the team remains the same as it was 21 years ago when I bought it.”

Ultimately, Tsai Ing-wen took control of the minority party from Prokhorov in 2017, and then took majority control two years later. Since then, it has been a turbulent time.

But Pagliuca was pretty much on board with it, or at least he was in command of it to some extent.

A second source close to the sale process told The Post he had heard from sources familiar with the matter that Pagliuca was considering buying the team.

“Pugs is generally pretty well respected around the league,” the source said.

“I remember being surprised when I heard Pagliuca was bidding.”

It's impossible to know for sure how different things would have been with Pagliuca in charge.

Brooklyn's big three of Irving, Kevin Durant and James Harden suffered some bad luck, with injuries to Irving and Harden preventing them from winning a title in '21.

With Irving abruptly leaving the team, Durant demanded a trade and the Big Three was gone.

What's certain is that selling his Celtics shares to buy the Nets would have been a big move for the 69-year-old Pagliuca.

Pagliuca was born and raised in Bernards Township, New Jersey, and graduated from Ridge High School before attending Duke University, where he played basketball as a freshman.

Pagliuca was acquired by the Celtics in 2002.

He reaped the rewards of a Big Three that actually got the deal done, with Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen winning championship rings in 2008 after their first season playing together.

Unlike the Nets, Boston's internal conflicts came years after they'd already won.

And by the time the Celtics had extorted money from Nets general manager Billy King for the 2013 contract that laid the foundation for their current NBA finalists, it was Pagliuca who represented the Celtics on stage at the 2014 NBA Draft Lottery.

Perhaps looking to broaden his position as an owner, Pagliuca bought an additional 8% stake in Celtic in 2020, made a bid to buy Premier League powerhouses Chelsea in 2022 and eventually bought Atalanta in the same year.

Currently, he is a minority owner of the still-Finals-leading Celtics. Tsai controls the Nets franchise and is seeking a minority investment, with Julia Koch working to acquire a stake.

And as Nets fans watch these Finals, they have another “what if” question.