Former UK star Jamal Mashburn wants to try his hand at owning an NBA franchise

It may seem like a lifetime ago, but Jamal Mashburn once lived the life of superstar while attending the University of Kentucky. He made Kentucky ‘cool’ again with his sweet stroke and wicked flat-top that had kids around the state of Kentucky doing the ‘Monster Mash’ all winter long.

As the Wildcats and their fans head into the second year of the John Calipari era, Mashburn’s time at Kentucky has a fairly similar feel to what is going on right now.

Then, it was head coach Rick Pitino who used Mashburn’s services to turn around a dormant Kentucky program riddled by NCAA violations and post-season bans. Now, it is head coach John Calipari who has used the services of such superstars as John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins to return a once dormant program back to the top of the NCAA college basketball landscape.

Mashburn was Pitino’s first heralded recruit, who hailed from New York and brought a tougher, more athletic demeanor to the Kentucky Wildcats program.

Everyone remembers what Mashburn did for the program, eventually leading the ‘Cats to an impressive Elite 8 appearance that found Kentucky in the midst of another epic battle with the hated Duke Blue Devils. The subsequent loss brought about the ‘Untouchables’ and forever etched Mashburn in Kentucky Wildcats folklore.

Time has passed since Mashburn’s college days—heck even his NBA playing days have been over for some time—bringing other fortunes to Mashburn’s life.

Unlike many other players around the NBA—like former Wildcats star Antoine Walker—Mashburn has used his business savvy personality to become quite the entrepreneur. If $75 million wasn’t enough—essentially what accumulated during his 13-year NBA playing career—Mashburn has been able to become a franchise owner of several Outback Steakhouse and Papa John’s restaurants.

Did I say several? What I meant to say was Mashburn currently owns 34 Outback’s, 37 Papa John’s, and several car dealerships in and around the state of Kentucky. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Mashburn has also been an ESPN analyst since he retired from the NBA in 2006.

Mashburn’s entrepreneurially mindset has made him a lot of money, but it has also put other ideas into his head.

"Dime: What NBA franchise would you be interested in buying?JM: I’ve been approached by people to be a part of a group, but at the timeit wasn’t right. But NBA franchises don’t come on the market very often.Personally, I’d like to buy the Detroit Pistons. I think with their fan base andhistory alone, the Pistons would be a good buy. Other potential owners have torealize there’s going to be a new CBA so you have to look at what the labor isgoing to cost. And in life, I like to do the opposite of what everyone else isdoing. Buy low and sell high works for a lot of people, so why not me? And JoeDumars has done an excellent job there to build a winner."

For some people, the mind never stops racing and for Mashburn he continues to be on the lookout for the next great business idea. Should he decide to buy the Pistons or at least become part owner of the team, it will only be testament to Mashburn’s desire to take on new challenges.

It’s in his blood and DNA, dating all the way back to his playing days at the University of Kentucky when everyone thought he was crazy to go to a collegiate program mired by NCAA infractions.

Well, he might still be crazy, but now he’s just crazy smart. Kudos to Mashburn.

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