‘King James’ keen to own NBA team in Sin City

Article posted by Coliseum, June 24^th, 2022

Image: MJR Group Ltd./Coliseum

Four-times National Basketball Association (NBA) champion LeBron James, who recently became the first active player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) history with a net worth of $1bn, is ready to bet big on Las Vegas (US), with ambitions of installing a NBA franchise in ‘Sin City’.

‘The Guardian’ quoted James as stating, “I wanna own a team. I want a team in Vegas.”

LeBron Raymone James Sr. is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed ‘King James’, he is widely considered one of the greatest players of all time.

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The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. It is the premier men’s professional basketball league in the world.

‘The Guardian’ further stated that the 37-year-old James is under contract with the Lakers through the 2022-2023 seasons, 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 (MLB’s) Boston Red Sox, after he joined the Fenway Sports Group (FSG) as a partner.

The FSG also owns the English Premier League club Liverpool F.C.

Boston (US)-based Fenway Sports Group Holdings, LLC, is the ultimate parent company of Major League Baseball’s ( MLB’s) Boston Red Sox, Premier League’s football team Liverpool F.C. and the National Hockey League’s (NHL’s) Pittsburgh Penguins.

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 presser recently, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said there are no current plans for expansion – “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.”

However, when asked specifically about Seattle and Las Vegas as locations for hypothetical expansion teams, Silver endorsed both locations -“Those are wonderful markets. We were in Seattle. I’m sorry we are no longer there. We have a Women’s National Basketball Association (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.”

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