NBA and Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James has reiterated his desire to own an NBA team. During an interview with The Shop, he said he was looking forward to owning Las Vegas and an expansion team. Previously in 2016, James also told Stefan Marolachakis and Jesse Williams about his desire to own an NBA team in an interview on Open Run.
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James said that he was passionate about basketball and he wanted to continue working with the game. The 6-foot-9 forward said he did not need to have a lot of hands-on experience to succeed in the business. If he is fortunate enough to own a team, the four-time NBA champion will hire the best possible general manager and president.
Although there are a lot of talented players out there, James said he had a good eye for the individuals who can make the most impact on the team. He noted that the key factors determining a player’s success were his passion for the game and his work ethic.
“But I have a feel like I have a good eye for not only talent, because we all see a lot of talent, but the things that make the talent, the chemistry, what type of guy he is, his work ethic, his passion, the basketball IQ side of things, because talent only goes so far,” James said.
NBA Commissioner denies league expansion rumor
NBA commissioner Adam Silver denied rumors that the league would expand during a press briefing before the NBA Finals. If the rumor was untrue, it would be more challenging for James to own a team.
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Silver was adamant that the rumor was not true. He also said that the league was not discussing the possibility of adding more teams after the 2024 season.
“That talk is not true,” Silver said to reporters. “At least maybe there are people talking who are not at the league office about us potentially expanding after the 2024 season. We are not discussing that at this time. As I said before, at some point, this league invariably will expand, but it’s not at this moment that we are discussing it.”
James’ path to team ownership
There are various ways for James to own an NBA team. One of these is to purchase a team outright. This is easier said than done since it would be very challenging for James to pull this off due to the sheer amount of money he would need to spend.
According to Brian Windhorst, an ESPN analyst, the NBA was looking to spend around $2.5 billion to expand the league. This is on par with the amount of money that was spent on recent sales. In 2019, Joseph Tsai purchased the Brooklyn Nets for a reported price of $2.35 billion, and in 2017, Tilman Fertitta bought the Houston Rockets for $2.2 billion.
Another way is for James to become a minority shareholder. This is similar to what Michael Jordan did with the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets. He bought the team from Robert Johnson in 2010. Jordan has been a minority owner of the organization since 2006.