
Four-times NBA champion LeBron James is ready to gamble his chips on a Las Vegas team after becoming the league’s first-ever active player to turn into a billionaire.
‘I wanna own a team,’ James said in a clip from his HBO television show ‘The Shop’ that circulated on social media on Thursday evening. ‘Yeah, I want a team…I want a, yeah, I want a team in Vegas. Yeah, I want the team in Vegas,’ he added.
The episode is expected to air on Friday. The 37-year-old James is under contract with the Lakers through the 2022-23 season, after which he will be a free agent, though he has already begun to test the water of professional team ownership.
In March 2021, the 18-times All-Star became a part owner of Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Boston Red Sox, after he joined Fenway Sports Group (FSG) as a partner. FSG also owns English Premier League soccer club Liverpool.
James recently became the second athlete to be worth $1billion following fellow NBA legend Michael Jordan in terms of being valued at 10 figures, Forbes reports, although James has done it while still an active player.
Jordan, 59, was not valued at $1billion until 2014, 11 years after he’d retired and right after he became an investor in the league’s Charlotte Hornets.
Las Vegas, as well as Seattle, have reportedly been listed at the NBA’s next locations for the league’s planned expansion in 2024. However, NBA Commission Adam Silver denied these rumors last week.
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SOURCE: Daily Mail, Alastair Talbot