Our man Shaq has talked about his desire to become part of a team to own an NBA franchise. He’s also talked about the possibility of bringing a new expansion team to Las Vegas. LeBron James has also talked about similar plans. Is there a deal brewing?
In the past (see recent posts here on the ShaqFu Radio blog), the big man has talked about team ownership, or at least being part of a team. When the idea of joining current Lakers superstar LeBron James has come up, O’Neal has been fairly cool to it, saying he was more interested in doing it himself… or at least with a team of his own.
Like Shaq, James has talked about what seems to be an easy choice… putting an expansion team in Las Vegas. Or, perhaps another existing team could move there, but there haven’t been any recent rumors about teams relocating. Still, Vegas would be a pretty obvious choice, with the city being such a great tourist destination. It shouldn’t be a problem to fill every seat in the T-Mobile Arena. It’s already evident that when the Las Vegas Raiders play in town, there’s usually a very high percentage of fans from the visiting team in the house. Selling tickets would be no problem.
We don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes, but there’s always a deal to be made, if the conditions and money are right. Rumor has it that LeBron is already hard at work, putting together an ownership team. Of course King James has plenty of money of his own, and we’re guessing that when he reaches out to other possible investors, they take his phone call every time.
Shaq is probably working the phones and his personal network as well. How far along he might be in that process, we don’t know. Still, seeing that James has been working it as well, Shaq is apparently now becoming more open to a possible collaboration on ownership.
Speaking to online sports-news site The Messenger, Shaq appears to have updated his thinking. “If there’s ever an NBA team that’s going to come here (Las Vegas), I would definitely like to be involved,” he said. “With LeBron, without LeBron, I just want to be involved.”
The NBA is making moves to grow the game and make it even more exciting and engaging for fans. This past weekend (as of this posting), the Association wrapped up its first-ever in-season tournament. LeBron and his Lakers teammates won the first-ever NBA Cup… in Las Vegas, of all places. So obviously, there’s a good appetite for the game in that city.
As for Shaq, he’s been a long-time resident of the area, and he’s already got other business interests in town… his Big Chicken restaurants. He also does his annual “Event” there to raise money for his charitable foundation.
How long before the NBA decides on expansion…regardless of location? That’s the bigger question. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has talked about it, but has also said that adding more teams to the league is not at the top of his to-do list.
Will there eventually be an NBA team in Sin City? Very likely, yes. When will that happen? Hard to say. Along with Vegas, Seattle is another city being talked about, but we’ll all need to stay tuned for future developments.