The NBA looks set for expansion in the coming years and LeBron James is expected to be among those bidding for a team in Las Vegas.
Expansion has long felt like the natural next step for the NBA and has been rumored as such. So when Adam Silver confirmed that expanding the league would become a focus once the league’s media rights deal is finalized, it came as little surprise.
What should also come as little surprise is that LeBron James is going to do everything he can to be involved with owning one of those teams, specifically if one ends up in Las Vegas. It’s not a foregone conclusion that a team will be in Vegas, but it’d sure be a surprise if the next group of NBA teams doesn’t include one in Sin City.
On Thursday, Fortune reported that LeBron would be among those bidding for the next NBA franchise, one that is going to come at a historic price, but that he is going to have plenty of competition (h/t HoopsHype).
The looming bidding war for the NBA expansion team expected to be granted to Las Vegas is shaping up to be the most competitive and expensive sports deal in US history. The list of potential suitors spans LeBron James and his backers to the company that owns the Red Bull brand, according to people familiar with the situation. The total price tag including building a new arena has the potential to hit $7 billion, according to two sports advisers who have previously sold NBA teams.
The timing of this is going to be interesting. LeBron is near the end of his career, but how close is he to the end of his career and how quickly with this expansion take shape?
There are a couple of things that can be true with this situation: there are ways to work around LeBron only being indirectly involved in the bidding process and the league very much would want LeBron involved as an owner.
There can be some handshake agreements and understandings that LeBron would be involved in an ownership group without being directly involved, depending on if the timelines overlapped between him playing and the league expanding. Ultimately, it seems unlikely that this will happen so fast that it becomes that much of an issue because of how quick of a turnaround it would be, relatively speaking.
Secondly, the NBA very easily could work with LeBron here, too. They also know that LeBron’s career is nearing an end and he wants to be part of an NBA ownership group. If they need to bend some rules a bit to make this happen, which would be mutually beneficial.
All this works under the assumption that LeBron wins the bid. Considering how long he’s wanted to do this, how vocal he’s been and how many connections he would have, it seems likely he would have an idea and plan in place to make this happen.
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