BREAKING: Junior Bridgeman Buying Stake in Milwaukee Bucks, per CNBC

Junior Bridgeman, who beginning in 1975 played 10 seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks and then built a reported net worth of $600 million as a businessman, is buying a 10 percent ownership stake in the franchise.

Junior Bridgeman announces that he is building Manna Beverages and ventures in Montgomery, Ala., during a ceremony in Montgomery on Tuesday October 18, 2022. Manna16 / Mickey Welsh / Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK

MILWAUKEE — As an NBA player, Junior Bridgeman never made more than $350,000 in a single season. As a businessman, Bridgeman's reported net worth is $600 million, making him one of the richest NBA players of all-time alongside Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Magic Johnson.

Now Bridgeman, who spent 10 seasons as a player with Milwaukee, is buying a 10 percent ownership stake in the Bucks, CNBC's Michael Ozanian and Jessica Golden reported Thursday.

"Bridgeman, the current owner of Ebony and Jet magazines, is getting a preferred limited partner discount of 15%, or a $3.4 billion valuation, to buy a portion of the team that he played for from 1975 to 1984," sources told CNBC.

The transaction would value the team at $4 billion, which is nearly $800 million more than last April when former Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry sold his 25 percent stake to Jimmy and Dee Haslam.

The deal would give Bridgeman, who is 70, a full-circle moment: from Bucks rookie to Bucks owner.

He arrived in Milwaukee as part of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar trade in 1975, played nine seasons with the Bucks; then, after two years with the Los Angeles Clippers, he returned to Milwaukee before the 1986-87 season, his last in the NBA.

He played 711 games for the Bucks, the team record until Giannis Antetokounmpo surpassed it in 2023. Bridgeman, whose No. 2 Bucks jersey was retired in 1988, now ranks third in games played behind Giannis and Khris Middleton.

His career after basketball is another story of long-term success. Bridgeman built a fast-food empire, at one point owning 450 restaurants nationally, including Wendy's and Chili's restaurants. He also owns Ebony and Jet and is a Coca-Cola bottle distributor.

The Bucks and Bridgeman so far have declined to comment on the deal.

Currently the Milwaukee Bucks are owned by the Haslams, Wes Edens, and Jamie Dinan. The three ownership groups each have about a 25 percent stake in the team. Bridgeman's deal would be the first NBA sale since the league signed an 11-year, $76 billion media agreement in July with Disney Co.'s ESPN, Comcast Corp., and Amazon.

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