NBA: Marc Lasry, the other African touch of the Bucks
Marc Lasry, co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, during a press conference before the NBA game between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Charlotte Hornets at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris, January 24, 2020. AFP - ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT
Text by: Michaël Oliveira Da Costa
7 mins
Co-owner of the new NBA champions, the Milwaukee Bucks of superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, the American-Moroccan businessman Marc Lasry is also a key figure in the franchise based in Wisconsin.
A pillar of the team's reconstruction since its acquisition in 2014, the French-speaking billionaire has succeeded in his bet: to invest in sport and to win the Larry O'Brien trophy in record time.
Encounter.
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Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, Tuesday, July 20, around 11:45 p.m. In the middle of the floor, players and families embrace, glitter soars through the air and cover the gleaming floor of the home team. The spirit is at the party for the Bucks who raise their second trophy of NBA champions of the history, 50 years after the first, won with a certain Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
In the middle of the crowd, a man dressed in a green top in the colors of the franchise and an "NBA champions" t-shirt, is like a child in a candy store. This man is the American-Moroccan businessman Marc Lasry. “
What a long way since Marrakech! I don't know what the exact distance between Morocco and Milwaukee is, but if I had been told when I was young that I would be the co-owner of an NBA franchise that would win a title, I never would have believed it. Part of me still sees it as something quite unreal,
”he smiles, still clouded over after
the feat achieved by his team
. At 61, Lasry is a gamer who has never hesitated to take risks to achieve his dreams.
Conquering a new world
Passionate about sport since his youth, young Marc discovers round ball (s) in his native Morocco, and begins to get caught up in the game, practicing several disciplines.
“
I have played a lot of sports, football, basketball, tennis, running, a bit of everything, because I am someone who likes challenges and work,
” he recalls.
“
I always wanted to push my limits and see where I could get to, even though I knew I would never be a professional athlete
[laughs].
But I think it helped me to become a competitor at heart, to build my career and to be the person and the businessman that I am today.
"
Son of Moses, engineer, and Elise, school teacher, Marc Lasry was eight years old when he crossed the Atlantic. The family settled in Connecticut, a two-hour drive from New York, in the city of West Hartford. In the land of Uncle Sam, Lasry discovers a new world, where the kings sports are different from those to which he was accustomed.
“I only knew basketball, but when I got here I started trying to play American football - just for fun - but also baseball and ice hockey. You can imagine that in Morocco, playing hockey was impossible, and I did not even know this discipline,
”he recalls.
Growing up, he learns that sport is also a thriving business, and that the sport industry is a huge pillar of the American economy, and not just for the entertainment of
Saturday morning
soccer moms
, or Saturday morning
soccer moms.
fathers of families who attend, caps on their heads, rain or snow, baseball or American football games of their favorite franchise.
But before that, the business world catches its eye ...
Khris Middleton holds up the Larry O'Brien Trophy after Game 6 of the 2021 NBA Finals against the Phoenix Suns at the Fiserv Forum.
USA TODAY Sports - Jeff Hanisch
Lasry, a thousand lives in one
Marc Lasry embarked on law studies and in 1985 obtained his first job in a New York business firm specializing in troubled companies. But he quickly feels cramped in this
corporate
and ultra hierarchical world, he who wants to stand on his own feet. “
I wanted to have some independence fairly quickly, and I wanted to start my business. After a discussion with my sister Sonia, who is very gifted in market analysis, we decided to set up our first company: Amroc Investments ”, he
explains, before continuing:“
In 1989, we launched Avenue Capital Group, with our offices on Park Avenue in New York, the machine was on
! ".
Lasry brother and sister are working hand in hand, and the business is growing fast.
By recovering the assets of troubled companies, his
hedge fund
explodes - it now reaches a value of more than 12 billion euros in assets - along with its bank account.
Marc Lasry is now accumulating a fortune of more than 1.8 billion euros.
The man becomes a key figure in the business world of the “Big Apple”, and wishes to invest in other projects that are close to his heart.
Marc Lasry now has a well-stocked address book.
He is close to the Clinton family - Chelsea is employed by Avenue Capital Group -, and is a major donor to the Democratic Party.
The Bucks, his sports bet
Lasry has another goal in mind and wants to get closer to one of his childhood loves: sport. “
As soon as the opportunity to buy the Bucks presented itself, we didn't hesitate for long. We met and negotiated with the former owner Herb Kohl, and we bought the franchise for around $ 560 million in 2014,
”
says the businessman. Located in one of the smallest markets in the US sports scene, the Milwaukee Bucks were struggling from a sporting point of view, chaining the seasons to more than 50 losses and the play-offs are a mirage year after year.
Lasry and his associates put on the warming blue, and take out the checkbook. The € 1.2 billion, 2300-seat Fiserv Forum replaces the aging Bradley Center, and the franchise is rebuilt from the ground up, with the recruitment of young players and the appointment of Mike Budenholzer , former Atlanta Hawks Coach of the Year. “
Then we also had a little luck, drafting Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, who are now sensational players. They grew up with us, and it's a great pride to have them here, because they were there when the club was at the bottom of the hole,
”he smiles, full of emotion.
Now on the roof of the best league in the world, the native of Marrakech savors: “There
are several African guys or of African origin in the franchise, and I am proud of my origins.
We show that it is possible to come from Africa and to succeed, by working hard every day.
When I see that Giannis has managed to do what he's done, League MVP, Finals MVP, and most of all bring the title back here after half a century, I can only be happy.
In seven years, we have partly won our bet, but this is only the beginning!
".
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