Lakers' LeBron James Says He 'Would Love to Bring' NBA Team to Las Vegas

Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James reiterated his desire to become part of an NBA ownership group for an expansion franchise in Las Vegas.

The four-time MVP addressed his postgame comments after Wednesday night's exhibition loss to the Phoenix Suns at Vegas' T-Mobile Arena to NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

"I would love to bring a team here at some point. That would be amazing. I know Adam is in Abu Dhabi right now, I believe," James told reporters. "But he probably sees every single interview and transcript that comes through from NBA players. So, I want the team here, Adam. Thank you."

He previously stated those intentions on HBO's The Shop in June:

The commissioner downplayed speculation the league was looking to expand to Las Vegas and Seattle in the next few years, though the expansion door wasn't totally closed.

"Just to answer the first part of your question directly, that talk is not true," Silver told reporters in June. "At least maybe there are people talking who are not at the league office about us potentially expanding after the 2024 season. We are not discussing that at this time. As I said before, at some point, this league invariably will expand, but it's not at this moment that we are discussing it."

After the gambling mecca of the U.S. was viewed as off limits by professional sports leagues for many years, both the NHL and NFL have brought franchises to Sin City to great success. The NBA will likely follow suit at some point in the future.

James is putting himself in a position to help build a group that could contend for those ownership rights.

The NBA's longtime gold standard reached billionaire status in June, according to Forbes. It made him just the second basketball player to surpasses the threshold, following Michael Jordan, who's now the owner of the Charlotte Hornets.

He'll likely need some financial partners in order to land a team in Vegas, though. It'll be a coveted ownership spot, which could lead to fierce competition, and the "cheapest" NBA team on Forbes' latest list of valuations is the Memphis Grizzlies at $1.5 billion.

That said, James sounds highly motivated to become a key part of the expansion process and it could ultimately become a quick transition from his on-court career to a front-office executive role.

His focus in the short term is trying to help the Lakers secure a bounce-back season after they missed the playoffs with a 33-49 record last year.

James looked primed for another standout campaign on Wednesday night, tallying 23 points in just 17 minutes as L.A. fell to Phoenix in exhibition action.