Joseph Tsai Rumors

Tsai — who as the right hand of Alibaba chairman Jack Ma boasts a personal fortune of $11.7 billion, according to Forbes — is making his move as the COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the NBA, with yearlong lockdowns wiping out ticket sales and forcing wealthy team owners to cough up cash to keep operations afloat. But as Tsai’s deal moves forward, critics point out that the NBA bylaws explicitly prohibit team owners from taking stakes in competing franchises, even indirectly, unless they get the league’s OK or own less than 1 percent through a publicly traded stock. “No owner … shall hold any direct or indirect financial interest in any other member [team],” without league approval, according to the bylaws.“

Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai is looking to widen his investments in the NBA — and his unusual play has some competitors crying foul. The billionaire co-founder of China-based e-commerce giant Alibaba is poised to take a stake of less than 5 percent in the firm behind HomeCourt Partners, a fund that has won special permission from the NBA to raise $2 billion to buy small stakes in numerous basketball franchises, many of which are now losing money.