Wyc Grousbeck reportedly out as Celtics governor; Bill Chisholm to take control

Zack Cox, Boston Herald on Aug 12, 2025

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BOSTON — Wyc Grousbeck will have a smaller role than expected when the Celtics’ new ownership group takes control, according to a new report.

ESPN’s Shams Charania and Ramona Shelburne on Tuesday reported that Grousbeck “will no longer stay on as governor” of Boston’s NBA franchise despite initial plans for him to do so.

When a collective led by Bill Chisholm reached an agreement earlier this year to buy the Celtics for $6.1 billion, it was announced that Grousbeck would remain in his current role as team governor and CEO for three more seasons before ceding those duties to Chisholm in 2028.

Instead, Grousbeck will keep his title as CEO but will be an alternate governor behind Chisholm, per ESPN. Alternate governors can act as team representatives and participate in league-wide votes when the team’s governor is unavailable.

“My partners and I have immense respect for Wyc, the entire Grousbeck family and their indelible contributions to the Celtics organization over the last 23 years,” Chisholm said in a statement in March. “We look forward to learning from Wyc and partnering with Brad Stevens, Joe Mazzulla and the talented team and staff to build upon their success as we work to bring more championships home to Boston.”

Grousbeck, the face of Boston’s ownership group since his family and its partners bought the team for $360 million in 2002, said at the time that Chisholm “has asked me to run the team as CEO and Governor for the first three years, and stay on as his partner, and I am glad to do so.”

Hours later, Shelburne reported, citing multiple league sources, that Chisholm and Grousbeck still “plan to run the team together as originally planned,” describing their governor/alternate governor titles as more of a technicality.

“The change in structure was due to league rules, including minimum ownership, sources said,” Shelburne wrote. “Grousbeck will end up owning slightly less than the required 15 percent given final funding for the transaction. Operations of the team should remain consistent with Brad Stevens and Rich Gotham continuing to run basketball and business operations.”

The sale of the Celtics and transfer of governor duties to Chisholm “is expected to be complete within the next week,” per ESPN’s report. The incoming ownership group also includes current Celtics minority owner Robert Hale, Related Companies president Bruce A. Beal Jr., and private equity firm Sixth Street Partners and Indian steel magnate Aditya Mittal.

The team is expected to struggle during Chisholm’s first season in charge after making a series of difficult roster decisions aimed at easing Boston’s luxury tax burden and increasing its flexibility for the future. Since their 2024-25 campaign ended with a second-round upset loss to the New York Knicks, the Celtics have traded or lost four members of their core rotation (Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford and Luke Kornet, all of whom were part of the 2023-24 NBA championship team) and replaced them with a collection of cheaper, less accomplished role players.

Of the five players the Celtics have added to their 15-man roster this offseason, just one (former Portland Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons) has been a long-term NBA starter. The other four (Luka Garza, Josh Minott, Chris Boucher and first-round draft pick Hugo Gonzalez) have started a total of 28 career NBA games, including zero in the last three seasons.

The Celtics also will be without All-NBA superstar Jayson Tatum for the foreseeable future as he recovers from a ruptured Achilles — and likely won’t be motivated to rush him back if the team is not in championship contention. Multiple prominent sportsbooks have Boston’s over/under win total pegged at 42.5, which would be a steep drop from the 57-plus games it won in each of the last three seasons.

Stevens, the Celtics’ president of basketball operations, said last month that Chisholm is “committed to spending” and has not delivered any mandate to trim salary.

“Bill has been pretty clear from the get-go that he wants to make sure that we’re prioritizing basketball assets and the ability to retool this thing at the highest level that we can,” Stevens said.