THURSDAY, 12:03pm: The NBA's Board of Governors has unanimously approved the sale of the Grizzlies to Robert Pera's group, the league announced today in a press release. The final hurdle before the team changes hands involves closing the sale with Michael Heisley, tweets Kyle Veazey of the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
WEDNESDAY, 5:21pm: The sale of the team received unanimous approval from the league's finance committee today, as Ronald Tillery and Kyle Veazey of the Memphis Commercial Appeal report. As Stein surmised earlier, that means tomorrow's vote by the Board of Governors is largely a formality, the newspaper tweets. Pera and his group still must close the deal with Heisley before the sale is complete.
TUESDAY, 8:36am: The NBA's Board of Governors is scheduled to meet this week in New York City this week, and as we learned last night, one of the topics on the table will be the sale of the Memphis Grizzlies to tech magnate Robert Pera. According to ESPN.com's Marc Stein, the Board of Governors is scheduled to vote on the sale on Thursday, and the agreement is expected to be approved.
As Stein writes in his piece, approval is generally considered to be a formality once it's brought to the Board of Governors. The transfer of ownership from Michael Heisley to Pera didn't always appear to be a lock, but Pera has solidified his bid by bringing aboard a number of potential minority owners, including actor/musician Justin Timberlake, NFL star Peyton Manning and his wife Ashley, and former NBA All-Star Penny Hardaway.
"We've heard a lot of good things about him and his intentions are all good," Grizzlies guard Mike Conley said earlier this month of Pera. "I know the city of Memphis should be excited. As a team, we are excited. It's going to be a different expectation for us, and we're just looking forward to taking it on."