LeBron James is no stranger to owning sports franchises, he already owns a stake in a few teams around the world. Recently, he shared his thoughts on potentially becoming a team owner of an NBA team. But he threw a curve ball to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who is the man who can make that happen. James called Silver out by stating his intentions pretty clearly: he wants to have an NBA team in Las Vegas.
As you already know, there are a few former NBA stars who are already team owners as well. The most famous example is perhaps Michael Jordan, who owns the Charlotte Hornets right now. Other examples are David Robinson in the San Antonio Spurs and Grant Hill in the Atlanta Falcons. LeBron James already has his hand in many ventures, but he most definitely wants to own an NBA team when he retires.
What did Adam Silver respond?
Here’s what the NBA Commissioner responded via ESPN: “In all seriousness, I think it’s very healthy for the league when you have sort of this lifecycle of players then moving into management, potentially moving into ownership. Obviously, Michael Jordan is the owner of Charlotte David Robinson [in] San Antonio. Grant Hill in Atlanta. Shaq owned a piece of Sacramento for a while. So, I think it’s great for the ecosystem.
“I’m thrilled that LeBron aspires to be an NBA team owner one day, I’d say Las Vegas specifically, you know, will make a great location for a franchise one day. We have a WNBA team, there are the Aces that obviously just won the championship. It’s not on the front burner right now for the league. I think we’ve been very public about the fact we want to get through collective bargaining. We want to see where our new media deals come out, but then we’ll turn back to expansion at some point.”
Thinking about the possibilities of LeBron James getting the infrastructure to move an NBA team to Las Vegas. Other questions emerge about the whole endeavour. First of all, which NBA team would have to move to Las Vegas if this happens? Also, what would the name of the new team become? So many questions but let’s enjoy LeBron’s final years in the NBA, then worry about his post-retirement life.
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