NBA Rumors: 'Multiple Groups' Eyeing Las Vegas Expansion Team amid LeBron James Buzz
There is reportedly significant interest in purchasing an NBA expansion team in Las Vegas should the league decide to go in that direction.
Speaking Friday on Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective, ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst said the following about the mounting desire from numerous groups to own an expansion franchise in Vegas:
"I can already tell you that there are multiple groups that are preparing to buy this expansion team in Las Vegas, that I know about. Much less what I don't know about. And LeBron [James] has also—not very veiled—indicated that he would like to be a part of the franchise in Vegas."
While the NBA could prove to be the last of the four major North American sports leagues to have a team in Las Vegas, the NBA has had a good relationship with the city longer than the other leagues as well.
Despite the fact that it didn't have a team, Las Vegas played host to the NBA All-Star Game back in 2007.
The NHL was the first league to branch out to Las Vegas with the creation of the Vegas Golden Knights, who began play in 2017 and won their first Stanley Cup last season.
They were followed by the NFL's Raiders relocating from Oakland to Las Vegas, and now MLB's Oakland Athletics are trending toward doing the same.
Pro sports leagues once shied away from Vegas due to their desire to have no links to sports betting, but now that sports betting is legal on a large scale in the United States and some leagues and teams have sponsorship deals with sports betting sites, all of the proverbial walls have been torn down.
The NBA's eventual foray into Las Vegas seems like a near certainty, although predicting who will come out on top in the battle to own the team is a challenge.
LeBron, 38, is set to enter his 21st NBA season in 2023-24, and his sixth season as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers.
While he remains focused on playing and adding to his four career NBA championships, he is likely nearing the twilight of his career, and it is safe to assume that he already has some plans in place for what he wants to do when he steps off the court for the final time.
James has not hidden the fact that he would like for there to be an NBA team in Las Vegas. After facing the Phoenix Suns in a preseason game in Vegas last October, LeBron appealed to NBA commissioner Adam Silver to make it happen.
LeBron reached billionaire status this year, and it could be the perfect time from the NBA's perspective to get him in an ownership role.
Michael Jordan, who was the first NBA player turned billionaire, sold his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets last month.
Jordan is widely considered the greatest basketball player of all time, but LeBron is arguably his closest competition, and he would be an ideal choice to be the next player to become an owner.
It is fair to assume that LeBron would be the NBA's preferred owner if a Vegas expansion team happens, and that coupled with the ease in which James should be able to bring in other wealthy investors may make it difficult for other groups to compete should James indeed commit to pursuing an NBA team in Las Vegas.
