New billionaire LeBron James says he wants to own an NBA team in Las Vegas
Four-times NBA champion LeBron James, who this week became the first active player in National Basketball Association history with a net worth of $1bn according to Forbes magazine, is ready to bet big on Las Vegas, with ambitions of installing a NBA franchise in Sin City.
“I wanna own a team,” James said in a clip from his HBO television show The Shop that circulated on social media on Thursday. “I want a team in Vegas.”
The episode is expected to air on Friday.
The 37-year-old James is under contract with the Lakers through the 2022-23 season, after which he will become a free agent, though he has already begun to test the waters of professional team ownership.
In March 2021, the 18-times All-Star became a part owner of Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox, after he joined Fenway Sports Group (FSG) as a partner.
FSG also owns English Premier League club Liverpool.
The NBA hasn’t expanded since going from 29 to 30 teams with the addition of the Charlotte Bobcats in 2004, which later became the Charlotte Hornets. The most recent team to go on the market, the Minnesota Timberwolves, fetched $1.5 billion in 2021.
During his annual state-of-the-league press conference last week, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said there are no current plans for expansion.
“We are not discussing that at this time,” Silver 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.”
However, when asked specifically about Seattle and Las Vegas as locations for hypothetical expansion teams, Silver endorsed both locations.
“Those are wonderful markets,” Silver said. “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.”