Lakers News: Potential New Arena Might Inch LeBron James Closer To NBA Ownership
Los Angeles Lakers All-NBA small forward LeBron James may have looked borderline-immortal during his 20th (!) pro season, but the reality is his career is closer to the end than the beginning. He may not retire this summer as he has threatened, but it'll happen soon.
Per Richard N. Velotta of The Las Vegas Review-Journal, Oak View Group CEO and chairman Tim Leiweke revealed to a responsive crowd of 850 at Las Vegas' M Resort that the new 20,000-seat arena he and his partners were building as part of their $10 billion resort project, currently still under construction in Southern Nevada, would one day be ready for an NBA team, should one expand to the territory or perhaps move to it.
“On this arena, I’m not asking anybody for any money,” Leiweke said. “We’re not going before the state, we’re not going before the county.”
“We don’t want to get ahead of (NBA Commissioner) Adam Silver and the NBA. It’s up to the NBA to make a decision on expansion. We’re very careful about making any statements,” Leiweke continued. “The point is to remind people and to assure people that when we say we’re going to go do something, we quietly go and get it done,” he said. “This isn’t about going out and creating the biggest headlines. This is about putting together the best possible management team you could put together and then quietly go do your job.”
Given that it's just a four-hour drive (on a good day) between James' current home in Brentwood and Sin City proper, and that gambling-heavy Vegas is fast emerging as a stellar sports destination, it makes plenty of practical sense for The Chosen One to target a potential expansion club there as his preferred ownership opportunity.
The 19-time All-Star certainly has the money to fund such an enterprise, having officially become a billionaire last year.
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