The NBA is exploring adding expansion teams in Vegas and Seattle, and LeBron James is a frontrunner for owning the Las Vegas franchise. Not to mention, James has expressed his desire to own a franchise in Vegas for quite some time now.
Notably, LeBron owns a stake in several sporting franchises across different sports. Most famously, he owns a minority stake in EPL giants Liverpool FC. However, he also owns minority stakes in MLB’s Red Sox and NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins.
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Hence, it is only right that he owns a franchise in the sport that was responsible for his rise to greatness. It is projected that LeBron James will be involved in NBA’s expansion to Las Vegas, which is reported to occur in 2025.
Reportedly, LeBron wishes to end his career after playing with his son, Bronny James. Bronny currently plays for Sierra Canyon and is expected to be in the NBA by 2025 as well. This raises the question of if LeBron will play with Bronny for Las Vegas, or will the Los Angeles Lakers pair the two up by giving Bron an extension.
LeBron James and Bronny to play for Las Vegas in 2025?
LeBron expressed his desire to own a franchise in Vegas on his podcast, The Shop: UNINTERRUPTED. He expressed and reiterated his desire to be the frontrunner for a franchise in Vegas. And if LeBron desires to retire after playing with Bronny, it is quite likely that the expansion team would be the place.
"I want a team in Vegas." 👀 @KingJames hints at his next big move on an all new episode of #TheShop TOMORROW at 9 am PT on our YouTube! 📺 pic.twitter.com/HIZKsBYPGF
— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) June 9, 2022
LeBron said, “I want to own a team. I want to buy a team, for sure. I want a team in Vegas. Want the team in Vegas.”
On the off chance that Bronny fails to make the NBA, LeBron James owning a franchise would increase his odds of seeing a roster spot. This may just make playing with his son a dream come true for LeBron.
Adam Silver shuts down talks of any expansion
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LeBron James’ billionaire status fueled the NBA expansion conversation. Sports Illustrated recently covered Adam Silver’s views on NBA potentially targeting Seattle and Vegas as destinations for NBA.
LeBron wants to own a team in Las Vegas 👀
“With what LeBron has meant to the game of basketball, I’m going to go so far as to say I think the league would owe it to him to facilitate him owning a basketball team.” —@stephenasmith pic.twitter.com/y5I6I8mFrX
— First Take (@FirstTake) June 10, 2022
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Commissioner Silver said, “We are not discussing that at this time.” He added, “As I’ve said before, at some point, this league will invariably expand, just not at this moment.”
With Seattle and Vegas, the NBA will become a 32-team league. And most importantly, LeBron can fulfill his desire to play with his son and own an NBA franchise with this Las Vegas expansion.