Las Vegas is one of the two clear front-runner cities for NBA expansion if — more likely when — it happens later this decade (Seattle is the other).
LeBron James has told NBA Commissioner Adam Silver he wants to own the Vegas team. With the Lakers in Las Vegas Monday for a preseason game against the Brooklyn Nets, Arash Markazi of The Messenger asked LeBron why Las Vegas. He responded it “just makes sense.”
“You have the [NFL’s] Raiders here, you have the [NHL’s Golden] Knights here, you have the [WNBA’s] Aces here, you’ve got F1 coming very soon, All-Star Weekend has been here a few times, you’ve got the NBA Summer League that’s very popular… I think adding an NBA franchise here would just add to the momentum that’s going on in this town… I think it’s only a matter of time. And I hope I’m part of that time.”
LeBron retiring from the NBA in a couple of years and then stepping into a role as a front-facing minority owner makes sense and would be good for the league, in the same way having Michael Jordan as an owner who understands the perspective of both labor and management was good for the league. While LeBron is a billionaire, he is going to have to partner with much richer people to own a team, the expected expansion fees for the new NBA teams are expected to be at least $2.5 billion, and that’s
not including all the other startup costs of getting a franchise off the ground. LeBron, his friend and agent Rich Paul, have contacts with people who have that kind of money, and he will have to tap them.
It’s also possible LeBron will end up part of the ownership group of another team down the line, there will be future teams for sale. But LeBron in Vegas, it just makes sense.