Junior Bridgeman, former Louisville hoops star, reportedly buying stake in Milwaukee Bucks

Former Louisville men's basketball star Junior Bridgeman is reportedly buying a 10% stake in the Milwaukee Bucks .

Bridgeman, 70, is getting a preferred limited partner discount of 15% (or a $3.4 billion valuation) to purchase a portion of the franchise where he spent 10 of his 12 seasons in the NBA , according to a report Thursday from CNBC .

The deal reportedly values the Bucks at $4 billion.

Bridgeman played for Hall of Famer Denny Crum at U of L from 1972-75 and as a senior helped lead the Cardinals to the Final Four. He was selected eighth overall by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1975 draft, then traded to Milwaukee.

That's where Bridgeman began building an entrepreneurial empire by purchasing Wendy's locations across the city. Then, he found success running Chili's restaurants and a Coca-Cola bottling operation. In 2020, he purchased Ebony and Jet magazines after they went bankrupt.

Bridgeman's estimated net worth, per a recent ESPN profile , is nearly $600 million. In 2016, Forbes ranked him the fourth-wealthiest retired athlete in the world — behind only Michael Jordan, David Beckham and Arnold Palmer — with an estimated income of $32 million.

In 2020, a report from Yahoo! Sports linked Bridgeman to speculation about the Toronto Raptors temporarily moving to Louisville as a possible short-term solution to COVID-19 travel restrictions in Canada at the time. But Bridgeman told The Courier Journal there was "absolutely no truth" to the story and that "the time has passed" for his pursuit of bringing an NBA team to the city.

"Two years ago, I asked the league about expansion," Bridgeman said at the time. "They responded that they were not looking at expansion, but if they would, the top two cities would be Seattle and Mexico City. I have not heard anything since then."

ESPN on Tuesday reported NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said expansion wasn't discussed during this week's meeting of the league's board of governors but will be addressed during the 2024-25 season.

Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Junior Bridgeman, former Louisville hoops star, reportedly buying stake in Milwaukee Bucks