Technology billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes is already a minority owner of Joe Ingles’ Utah Jazz in the NBA – but could he also invest in the NBL?
Australia’s sole NBA owner at the Utah Jazz, technology billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, is open to investing in the ever-improving NBL competition.
Cannon-Brookes, who is a minority owner of the Jazz and the league’s youngster stakeholder at 41, is passionate about seeing basketball prosper.
It’s why he would consider putting his money in the NBL to join current and former NBA players investing in the Australian league like Dante Exum (Phoenix), John Wall (Phoenix) and Victor Oladipo (Breakers).
Cannon-Brookes’s potential interest in the NBL would be a significant win for the league given he has a net worth of $A16.93bn as the co-founder and co-CEO of the software company Atlassian.
“I’m involved in basketball in general and I’m a huge Australian fan, so never say never for sure,” Cannon-Brooks told The Basketball Show about investing in the NBL.
“Look, what Larry (Kestelman) seems to have done in the last five years is awesome.
“He has really reinvigorated the league.
“I think the connections to and from the US are really important.
“We see that with LaMelo (Ball) going over this year (from Illawarra to Charlotte), owners in the NBL being from the US.
“The more pathways there are for us to the NBA and back like coaches like (Will) Weaver and the Next Stars program, the better.
“You also want the NBA to look at the NBL and say that is a great league where real players come from.
“I think the NBL has a fantastic future to be honest.”
Cannon-Brookes usually travels to the United States for NBA games at least 10 times a year, but COVID has temporarily grounded him in Australia.
In the meantime, he must rely on technology to complete his minority owner role with Utah.
“At the moment it is FaceTime and Zoom and watching on NBA League Pass,” he said.
No face-to-face contact aside, Cannon-Brookes has thoroughly enjoyed his role at Utah since joining the franchise’s ownership group in December.
Although he concedes watching the Jazz, and his favourite player in Aussie Joe Ingles, has become a bigger challenge now that he has an official link to the club.
That is even the case with Utah leading the league with an impressive 19-5 record.
“It (ownership) definitely makes watching the games a lot more stressful,” he said.
“It has upped the stress levels watching the games knowing a bunch of the players and the organisation.
“But it is a phenomenal organisation. We have such a great organisation built by the prior owners over 35 years that our job is just to keep fostering that.”
Cannon-Brookes also gave an insight into his contribution to the Jazz and what it entails on a day-to-day basis.
“To be honest, we don’t dribble, shoot or do anything on the court,” he said.
“We much more look at the long term and we are looking at the multi-decade view.
“A good advantage is that all three owners in the ownership group are 41, 42 and 43, so we are looking at the 30-year view and saying, ‘OK, what can we do over the long term?’ and preserving the legacy of what is already there in the franchise.
“It has been a wild ride, but I’m loving every minute of it.”
