Lebron James’ heart currently resides in Los Angles and his focus is on getting the Lakers a 17th championship, however, the richest active player in the NBA still very much has his eyes set on owning an NBA franchise in Sin City.
It has been nearly 20 years since the association expanded its roster of teams and added the Charlotte Bobcats — now Hornets — to the league. Yet that does not mean the NBA isn’t eyeing cities around the country as potential locations for a new franchise. In July, NBA commissioner Adam Silver revealed that while the league is not close to adding a new organization, the idea is an eventuality when he told reporters during the NBA Finals, “As I said before, at some point this league invariably will expand, but it’s not at this moment that we are discussing it.”
One person who has been upfront about their interest in seeing the league expand and being the owner of that new team is the league’s most famous and wealthiest athlete, Lebron James. In June, the Lakers star became the first active player to become a billionaire. This means that the multi-time NBA champion actually does fall in the tax bracket that would allow him to lead a consortium to purchase or build an NBA franchise.
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James has already thrown that financial weight around in recent years by expanding his ownership portfolio by scooping up minority stakes in the English Premier League team Liverpool FC and the MLB’s Boston Red Sox. Furthermore, during an episode of “The Shop: Uninterrupted” — a show he co-hosts on YouTube — this summer, the 37-year-old admitted that he hopes to own a team one day and would like it to be in a new franchise in Las Vegas.
Lebron James on NBA team in Las Vegas: ‘I would love to bring a team here’
On Wednesday night, during a media scrum following the Lakers’ preseason loss to the Phoenix Suns inside Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena, James put pressure on Silver to make Nevada the new home of an NBA organization and for him to be its leader.
- Lebron James net worth: $1.2 billion
“It’s wonderful [to play in Las Vegas]. It’s the best fan base in the world and I would love to bring a team here at some point. That would be amazing. I know Adam [Silver] is in Abu Dhabi right now, I believe [for the Bucks vs Hawks Abu Dhabi Games exhibition]. But he probably sees every single interview and transcript that comes through from NBA players, so, I want the team here Adam. Thank you.”
Lebron james on an nba team in las vegas
It will be interesting to see what the league and Silver does in the next few years. Seattle seems to be a sentimental favorite to regain the franchise they lost, just like Charlotte did in 2004. However, when the league’s most famous player wants to be the face of a new franchise, and they could play in a state-of-the-art venue like the T-Mobile Arena, there is a lot of leverage leaning in Las Vegas’ direction.