Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley doesn't plan on passing the team down to his family upon his death.

He was asked in a wide-ranging interview with the Memphis Commercial Appeal whether selling the team was a possibility.

"I'll reiterate my position again. I'm 73 years of age. My family is not going to take over this basketball team. My point is very simple," he said. "If the right person makes a reasonable offer for the team I will sell it. If the minority (local) owners want to come up with a reasonable offer, I would love to sell it to them. I think they would make great owners. If it's not to be, it's not to be.

"Quite frankly, I don't have to sell this team. I'm not in any financial difficulty. We have to be a model for what has to be done in the new era of pro basketball when teams are losing the kind of money they're losing. Some people have got to be more fiscally responsible. We've lived within the rules. I've taken the heat. Everybody says I'm cheap. But I've shown that it does you no good to just go out and spend huge amounts of money."