Celtics Superstar Jayson Tatum Involved in Bid for St. Louis WNBA Expansion Team

The newly-minted NBA champion wants to bring pro basketball to St. Louis.
Tatum grew up in St. Louis
Tatum grew up in St. Louis / Joe Puetz-Imagn Images
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Now that he's an NBA champion, Jayson Tatum wants to bring basketball to his hometown.

Per a Thursday morning report from Sportico, the Boston Celtics superstar has "informally" agreed to support a billionaire-backed ownership bid to bring a WNBA expansion team to St. Louis. The group is co-led by Richard Chaifetz and David Hoffman; Chaifetz has been involved in bids for NBA, MLB, and NFL teams previously, while Hoffman owns a minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Blues.

"Tatum has informally agreed to invest in the team should it come to fruition and contribute behind the scenes to the group’s pitch, both to other potential big-name investors and the league itself, according to sources involved with the bid," wrote Jacob Feldman for Sportico.

Competition for the 16th WNBA expansion team, which is expected to be added by 2028, is fierce. Patrick Mahomes was recently linked to an effort to get Kansas City the expansion. There's never been more eyeballs on the W and it's no surprise there's widespread interest in landing a team.

Tatum just won his first NBA title with the Celtics and brought the Larry O'Brien trophy to St. Louis to throw out the first pitch at a Cardinals game. He loves the city and, having just signed the largest deal in NBA history worth $315 million, certainly has the capital to get involved in sports ownership. As noted by Sportico, he is permitted by the most recent CBA to have up to a 4% stake in a WNBA franchise.

Certainly a group to keep an eye on as the bids ramp up.


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Liam McKeone
LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.