Shaughnessy wrote that he asked the younger Grousbeck if it was “OK” to write that his ownership stake in the team was less than two percent.

“We hold as a family — all unified … We are a family and I also have a Celtics family is my comment. Thanks,” Wyc Grousbeck reportedly responded to Shaughnessy.

Boston Basketball Partners LLC. announced its plan to sell the franchise on Monday, citing “estate and family planning considerations” as the reason why. Additionally, the group expects to sell a majority interest in the team by later in the year or in early 2025 with the balance closing in 2028. Wyc Grousbeck is expected to remain the team’s governor until the second closing of the sale in 2028, according to the statement.

As for who could succeed the Grousbecks as the majority owner of the franchise, co-owner Steve Pagliuca has been viewed as a possibility. Pagliuca, who helped the Grousbecks buy the Celtics in 2003, said Monday that he hopes “to be part of the Celtics moving forward” and will be a “proud participant in the bidding process.”

However, Pagliuca failed to elaborate further than what his statement on Monday read when asked by Shaughnessy about succeeding the Grousbecks.

“I am under NDA at this point so can’t talk. Sorry,” Pagliuca reportedly told Shaughnessy.

It’s unclear how much stake Pagliuca currently has in the franchise. But he bought James Pallotta’s eight percent share of the team in 2020 at an estimated $2.8 billion valuation, according to Sportico. The Celtics were recently valued at $4.7 billion by Forbes in October 2023.

Pagliuca has expressed interest in becoming a controlling owner of an NBA team in the past. He actually nearly became the controlling owner of the Nets in 2017, potentially partnering with Joe Tsai to buy the team from Mikhail Prokhorov. While Pagliuca would’ve been the controlling owner, Tsai would have footed most of the money for the purchase, according to the New York Post.

“I was honored to be contacted by the Nets in 2017 to look at the club, but decided after a review that my heart was with the Celtics and subsequently invested more capital in the Celtics franchise and also in the Italian Serie A soccer team Atalanta,” Pagliuca told the New York Post in June.

Beyond Pagliuca, another name speculated as a possible buyer of the majority stake in the Celtics is John Henry. Henry, who owns the Red Sox through Fenway Sports Group, issued his first statement on the matter on Friday.

“We commend Wyc Grousbeck, his family, and their partners for their remarkable stewardship of the Boston Celtics, an organization that means so much to the City of Boston and countless fans across New England and the globe,” Henry said in a statement to The Athletic‘s Jen McCaffrey. “Under their leadership, the Celtics have been part of the city’s remarkable golden age of sports marked not only by championship success on the court but also through their exemplary community engagement.

“We greatly admire and respect the Celtics organization, its players, and its amazing fans, but have no comment on the forthcoming bidding process.”

There had been reports in recent years that Fenway Sports Group was looking to purchase an NBA franchise. It already owns Liverpool FC of the Premier League, the NHL’s Penguins, and NASCAR’s Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing while also striking a $3 billion deal with the PGA Tour in January. Henry also owns The Boston Globe, which is Boston.com’s parent company.

The impending sale of the Celtics has generated a considerable amount of buzz in the sports world. There’s been some speculation that it could break the record for the largest sale in North American sports history. The 2023 sale of the Washington Commanders set the record at $6.05 billion.

There are also betting odds on who will buy the majority share from the Grousbecks. Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison is listed as the favorite with Pagliuca holding the second-best odds on BetOnline. The odds board also features Tom Brady and other notable Boston names, such as Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.