Phil Knight is the answer for Rip City

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When the Portland Trail Blazers were recently put up for sale - finally - by the estate of Paul Allen, Oregon's top sports savior, Phil Knight, dropped out immediately as the buyer for the team. But, I'm thinking, he's going to eventually be the owner, even if it's just for a small percentage. Dropping out immediately was a key move in the process of bargaining to get the team at a decent price, whatever a decent price for a trendy asset such as an NBA team is these days.

Phil Knight has said publicly that he's out, but, ultimately as society gets more disjointed and the danger of the Blazers actually moving from the Rose City increases, Phil Knight is going to end up owning the Blazers - he has to, and Oregonians need to make clear that he's the guy for the task of keeping the team in Portland.

So, Uncle Phil. So, Rip City. So, Portlanders and Oregonians alike, let's get the discussion going that helps 'Uncle Phil and Friends' wind up with the team, and there's no sweating with regards to whether it moves to another town such as Las Vegas or Seattle.

The discussion starts with money: Uncle Phil has it. The sale here brings up the sale of the Los Angeles Clippers to Steve Ballmer in 2014. Ballmer, a long-time exec at Microsoft, bought the Clippers for $2 billion in 2014 when the bidding process was in the $1.2 billion area. But, he didn't want to bid, he just wanted to buy the team, and show off his wealth in the process, so he essentially said "buy 'em." He probably could have gotten the same result for $1.6 billion, but ... when you're that rich a few hundred million dollars don't really seem to matter. He still owns the team, and it's valued at around $5.5 billion, according to online estimates. They haven't won anything, but it's been a good investment.

The Blazers are valued at $3.5 billion as the sale happens. The NBA is going up in value even with all the uncertainty in the global economy. They'll probably be worth double that in a decade. The team is a good investment. Uncle Phil could just probably say "buy them" for $4 billion if he wanted, but he has not shown off that kind of personality in the past - so this sale would really be about the "And Friends" part as in who would be buying the team with him.

The "And Friends" discussion would get some good drama going if the former pro athletes, who are now millionaires, jumped in and became owners of the team as well. This group might start with, say, Joey Harrington, and go forward from there.

Uncle Phil doesn't want to be involved in the sale, but what if there were a healthy group of Oregon millionaire athletes involved in the sale with him? That's what happened with the Portland Thorns, and then the Portland WNBA team. This should happen with the Blazers, too.

This is where Uncle Phil has a definite chance to impact the future in a great way, and this is a moment in history when the future needs impacting like this. And, not just Portland, but society, which is having so many issues with politics and budgets and artificial intelligence and just working together. Living together.

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