Related Articles
James, who has a staggering net worth of $1.2 billion, has enjoyed a legendary career in the NBA and is still going strong. But ahead of walking away from the court, ‘King’ James has revealed his ambitions of installing a new NBA franchise within the basketball league.
Speaking in a clip from his HBO television show The Shop, he said: “I wanna own a team. I want a team in Vegas.” The 39-year-old is contracted with the LA Lakers, but he has already begun to test the waters of professional team ownership when he eventually calls time on his career.
He’s determined to own an NBA franchise in the future, according to his close friend and business partner Maverick Carter.
Speaking on the Pat McAfee Show, Carter said: “LeBron is absolutely determined to own an NBA team. But he’s still playing, and I have no idea how much longer he’ll be around.
“I would have thought he would have retired a few years ago, but there he is with his beard, still graying, showing young people that ‘Grandpa’ is still playing.”
In 2022, during an annual state-of-the-league press conference, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said there were no current plans for expansion but endorsed Las Vegas.
“We are not discussing that at this time,” he said. “As I said before, at some point, this league invariably will expand, but it’s not at this moment that we are discussing it.”
On Las Vegas and Seattle as locations for potential expansion teams, Silver added: “Those are wonderful markets. We were in Seattle. I’m sorry we are no longer there. We have a WNBA team in Seattle in an almost brand-new building that’s doing spectacular.
“And Las Vegas, where we will be at our summer league in July, has shown itself to be a great sports market as well.”
As it stands, Las Vegas does not have a basketball team, but Sin City boasts a team in the NFL and NHL.
NFL side Las Vegas Raiders play their homes games at the Allegiant Stadium while NHL outfit Vegas Golden Knights, who were formed in 2017, reside at the T-Mobile Arena, where a hypothetical Vegas NBA franchise would play their home fixtures.
