Teams love to display their hardware, so it can't have felt great for the Houston Rockets when former owner Leslie Alexander sold the team but kept the 1994 and 1995 Larry O'Brien Trophies that presumably came with it. Alexander, who bought the Rockets in 1993 and was at the helm for the two best seasons in franchise history, seems to want to make sure that the trophies are his legacy -- not the Rockets'.
"They're here in a corner at my house," Alexander recently told the Houston Chronicle. "I haven't decided how to set them up yet.
He also said it was obvious why he kept the trophies, which now reside in his Florida home, and that he had the right to take the trophies with him because the NBA presents its championship trophy to the owner of the team.
"You want to win championships," he said. "That's what you're there for."
Alexander sold the team in September for $2.2 billion to Houston businessman Tilman Fertitta. Per The Houston Chronicle, the team is trying to order replacement trophies. The Rockets didn't "display" the trophies before, choosing instead to house them in team offices at the Toyota Center and showing them to season ticket holders at special events only, but it's still nice to have that bit of history on hand.
Fertitta told The Houston Chronicle that he's interested in the replicas for a public display, but had no comment on Alexander's decision to take the trophies.
