Who is the 1st Indian-Origin NBA Owner?

The NBA has always been a culturally diverse sport. Of the big four professional sports in the United States, it has the highest percentage of African American players.

However, the same cannot be said for the owners of these teams, where 90% of the teams’ presidents are white.

South Asian representation in both players and owners is meagre. In the 2022-23 season, Asians made up 3.3% of the coaching staff in the NBA.

There are no official statistics on how many Asian players are in the NBA.

However, the 2023 report on the NBA’s racial and gender hiring process indicates that this number is low.

One of the people who broke through this barrier was Vivek Ranadivé, the first NBA owner of Indian origin.

Ranadivé’s hard work and determination have made him a pioneer in the tech industry and propelled him to his current position as owner of the Sacramento Kings.

We explore his early life, his success in America and how he became the first Indian-origin owner of an NBA team.

Early Life

Vivek Ranadivé was born on October 7, 1957, in Mumbai, India, the youngest of three siblings.

Ranadivé’s father was a pilot who was jailed by Indira Gandhi after voicing many concerns about the safety of India’s planes.

His family also had roots in politics, with his Aunt and Uncle being members of the Communist Party.

Ranadivé studied at Bombay International School before coming to America at the age of 17 to attend MIT in Boston, Massachusetts.

He famously camped outside the Governor of the Bank of India’s office, until they released foreign funds for him to go abroad.

At this time in India, you could only get foreign currency to study abroad if the government released it.

This was an early insight into Ranadivé’s determined nature, prevalent in all stages of his life.

He earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in electrical engineering from MIT and an MBA from Harvard University.

Tech Companies

In 1985, Vivek Ranadivé founded Tenekron Software Systems, a tech company that eventually led to the formation of TIBCO, a multi-billion-dollar software company.

Their software transformed American Stock Trading and is the “central nervous system for most the world’s largest companies and government agencies”.

As of today, Ranadivé is reportedly worth around $700 million (£545 million). However, there is some contention that this number could be in the billions.

He has gained the nickname “Mr Real Time” as he is “dedicated to the vision that if you get the right information to the right place at the right time and in the right context, you can make the world a better place”.

Ranadivé has gone on to form many other tech companies over the years and now owns a venture capital firm called Bow Capital.

They partner with the University of California to fund tech companies that will advance society. This encompasses his aim to make the world a better place through innovation.

Love of Basketball

Vivek Ranadivé’s love of basketball started when he coached his daughter Anjali’s basketball team.

Ranadivé recruited ex-NFL player Roger Craig and his daughter Rometra to help him coach, as he had never played basketball.

Rometra was previously a Division 1 basketball player and played for well-renowned teams such as Duke and USC.

Together, they used aggressive playing styles to mask the fact that their girls were not the tallest or most skilled.

These girls were not conventional basketball players but daughters of computer programmers who dreamed of vocations in science.

Some of the team’s tactics were like those of NFL teams. Ranadivé’s team took advantage of the time constraints involved in playing basketball.

In basketball, when one team has scored, the other team’s player must take the ball out of the bounds of the court, and they have five seconds to pass it to one of their teammates who are within the court’s parameters.

Another time constraint in basketball is that a team must get the ball into the opposition’s court within 10 seconds. Otherwise, they must concede the ball to the other team.

Ranadivé’s team would closely defend each player to make it very difficult to make a pass. They would intimidate their opponents, compensating for their lack of skill.

Through this strategy, they were able to beat teams that were much better than them on paper.

Furthermore, it shows how Ranadivé translated his fascination with “real-time” from the tech industry into basketball.

Professional Relationship with Basketball

Vivek Ranadivé’s professional relationship with basketball started in 2010 when he became co-owner and Vice Chairman of the Golden State Warriors.

During his time at the Warriors, he expressed interest in purchasing the Sacramento Kings.

These two franchises are only 86 miles apart and share a rivalry due to their proximity.

Ranadivé had to relinquish his shares in the Warriors to acquire a 65% majority ownership of the Sacramento Kings.

He purchased his share in the team in May 2013 for a rumoured $348 million (£271 million). At the same time, the total sale of the Kings was evaluated at $535 million (£416 million), a record-breaking figure for the NBA at the time.

The team was purchased from the Maloof family, who owned an entertainment business which focused on developing and producing film and television programming.

They also had exclusive proprietorship rights to distribute Coors, Miller, Corona, Heineken, Tecate, Boston Beer Company, Red Bull, and Guinness products throughout New Mexico.

They had owned the team for 14 years but had to sell the team to Ranadivé and the Seattle Group after losing much of their fortune.

Life as an NBA Owner

Although he says his family motto is “never give up”, it is safe to say that Vivek Ranadivé’s time as Sacramento Kings owner has not been smooth sailing.

Between 2006 and 2022, the Sacramento Kings endured 16 consecutive losing seasons, nine of which occurred under Ranadivé’s ownership. This was the most in NBA history.

The team also experienced the longest playoff drought until the 22/23 season, when they qualified but were eliminated in the first round.

In the 2023/24 season, they could not make progress because they failed to qualify for the playoffs due to a loss in the play-ins.

Fan opinion on Ranadivé is very mixed, with some praising him for ending this 16-year drought and others frustrated with his business decisions.

He has also been criticised for hiring ex-players on the coaching staff, who have proved unsuccessful. He has allowed trades of players who have gone on to become very successful.

An example is Tyrese Haliburton, who now plays for the Indiana Pacers, a team which reached the Eastern Conference Finals in 2024.

Haliburton has been an All-Star for the past two years (2022-2024.) He has led the league in assists and has been credited as an efficient passer and scorer.

On the other hand, the purchases of players like De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis have been well received.

Both players have played in All-Star games and played a large role in helping the Kings end their playoff drought.

Furthermore, under Ranadivé’s leadership, the Kings have invested over $1 billion (£779 million) in the local community.

This has created thousands of jobs and reinvigorated the city due to its flourishing downtown area.

Ultimately, as the owner, the team’s successes and failures rest on his shoulders. His passion and determination have significantly improved the team and the organisation, but there is still a long way to go.

Family Life

Vivek Ranadivé has three children, whom he shares with his ex-wife, Deborah Addicott. The pair were married for 20 years before divorcing in 1999.

His two sons, Aneel and Andre, have both become successful in the investment space.

Aneel also works with his father for the Sacramento Kings and has some ownership in the team.

Ranadivé’s youngest child, Anjali, has made her way into the limelight as an R&B singer and has released music since 2014.

Anjali has also carried on her interests in basketball and started coaching a G League team, the Stockton Kings, in 2022.

She started as their Assistant General Manager in 2022 and was promoted to General Manager in 2023.

She led the team to the best record in the G league during this time, with 25 wins and seven losses.

However, their stellar season ended with a loss to Sioux Falls in the semi-finals of the playoffs.

She then stepped down from this position to pursue her doctorate and continue her volunteer work with Jaws and Paws, a foundation she set up to help rescue animals.

Although Vivek Ranadivé’s time with the Kings has not been as successful as his tech companies, he stands as a trailblazer by becoming the first NBA owner of Indian origin.

He moved to America from Mumbai, graduated from MIT and Harvard, and created multibillion-dollar software that has transformed the industry.

He inspires not only those of Indian heritage but anyone with high aspirations.

Eleven years on from his purchase of the team, he still stands as the only NBA owner of Indian origin and the NBA space is still dominated by white owners.

This makes his emergence into this space even more remarkable. There is also a long way to go in getting ethnic minorities into higher management in the sports industry.

However, many prominent businesses are now led by people of South Asian descent.

Could the rise of South Asian-origin sports team owners be a trend to watch in the coming years?