Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie in the mix to buy the Boston Celtics

"The Celtics, it was their first round of buyers, they had to cut down their perspective buyers," Simmons said on "The Bill Simmons Podcast" on Sunday. "Four or five people made the first round. One of the people was the Eagles owner, Jeffrey Lurie, who is apparently from Massachusetts. There’s been a couple of ‘Hmm, I wonder who these guys are?’ There are a couple I couldn’t figure out but that’s one."

This is quite the plot twist, given that the Eagles' foe in Sunday's contest is similarly owned by a businessman with Philly ties. That would be Josh Harris, who has a stake in the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers. 

Lurie is beloved by Eagles fans and the City of Philadelphia for his immensely successful tenure since purchasing the team for $195M back in 1994. The Eagles have made 19 playoff appearances in Lurie's 31 years as owner, including seven NFC Championship game appearances, four Super Bowl berths (including 2024) and one Super Bowl title (2017). 

Despite these accolades, though, Lurie appears willing to sacrifice some of his good standing in Philadelphia to purchase one of the city's key sports rivals. It's not exactly news that will excite Eagles fans ahead of their much-anticipated Super Bowl rematch with the Kansas City Chiefs. 

Regardless, this transaction would make sense for Lurie: He's a Boston native with ties to that area. And he is a massive Celtics fans, which would only fuel his desire to purchase the team. 

But beyond the Boston ties, Lurie told the media back in 2023 that he models his Eagles ownership off of Celtics legendary coach and executive Red Auerbach.

“Well, I’ve always thought that the sports franchises that make decisions based on what they think is right, it’s never going to be the popular one in that case,” Lurie said via NBC Sports Philadelphia. “I go back to Red Auerbach, because to me, he made a lot of decisions that were not the popular decisions in the headlines the next day in The Boston Globe but it was best for that franchise to continue their dynasty."

Lurie and the Celtics almost feels like fait accompli. But fortunately for Philadelphia sports fans, that reality hasn't arrived ... yet. 

Also of note is Lurie's recent sale of an 8% share of the Philadelphia Eagles, which he conducted in December for a whopping $664M. That transaction valued the team at over $8B, a figure that is not insignificant when considering the Celtics' reported selling price.