A Delaware courtroom was set to hear arguments this week in a dispute involving multiple wealthy business owners with interest in owning the Portland Trail Blazers: Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal, who through their athletics investment company Raj Sports own the Portland Thorns and Portland Fire; Tom Dundon, the owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes and apparent future owner of the Blazers; and the Panda Express restaurant owners, Andrew and Peggy Cherng, who were announced as members of Dundon’s group bidding for the Blazers.

But that court dispute will not take place, as Raj Sports and the Cherng family have announced a confidential, out-of-court settlement.

Raj Sports filed suit against the Cherngs in late September, arguing they had been misled. The lawsuit said the leaders of Raj Sports were preparing a bid with the Cherngs’ involvement. The suit argues the Cherngs were part of ownership planning all the way up until the time that Dundon’s bid - and the Cherngs’ role in that bid - was publicly accepted by the Allen Trust, which owns the team.

Before being announced as a potential owner of the Trail Blazers, Dundon was not well known in Oregon, though, as OPB previously reported, auto loan businesses he’s connected to were the target of actions by the state’s Department of Justice.

In its initial filings seeking a temporary restraining order and in the underlying lawsuit, Raj Sports argued the Cherngs’ actions undermined and damaged the company’s efforts.

“As a direct result of Defendants’ breaches of the Exclusivity Agreement and intertwined tortious interference with the Exclusivity Agreement and Raj Sports’ reasonable business opportunity to acquire the Trail Blazers franchise, Raj Sports has suffered substantial losses,” the lawsuit said.

Raj Sports said that the Cherngs would have been the largest financial contributor to their ownership bid, other than the Bhathals themselves. The lawsuit was seeking damages and seeking to prevent the Cherngs from being part of the ownership effort due to the alleged breach of contract.

In an affidavit in support of the Cherngs, Dundon said that his group would be able to move forward with buying the Blazers “without needing funding from the Cherngs”. Dundon’s involvement in settlement talks appears to have helped the two sides reach a deal.

In a statement Monday, Raj Sports expressed interest in moving past the legal debate and creating a good relationship between the owners of Portland’s two top basketball teams.

“We are pleased to have reached a resolution out of court which we believe recognizes our position while also preserving the future of basketball in Portland,” the statement said. “We look forward to working closely with the Trail Blazers as the Fire join them at the Moda Center next Spring.”

OPB’s messages to Tom Dundon and to representatives of the Cherng family were not immediately returned.

Now that a settlement is in place, few hurdles remain for Dundon’s group to acquire the Trail Blazers. The sale ultimately needs approval from the NBA’s board of governors.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/10/13/trail-blazers-team-sale-tom-dundon-portland-thorns-fire/