Shaq prepares for bidding war with LeBron James over NBA team in Vegas: "I want it all for myself"

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LeBron James has been extremely vocal about his desire to own an NBA team in Las Vegas, but fellow Lakers legend Shaquille O'Neal may impede on his plans.

O'Neal, a four-time NBA champion turned business mogul, also wants to run an NBA franchise in Sin City and doesn't have plans to partner up with his old teammate James.

“I would like to have my own group,” O'Neal told The Messenger at a Las Vegas-based charity event. “I know Vegas hasn’t been awarded an NBA team yet, but if they ever get to a point where they are awarded a team, I would like to be a part of that. I don’t want to partner up with nobody. I want it all for myself.”

Although a formal process for league expansion has not begun, as commissioner Adam Silver intends first to complete domestic media rights deals set to expire in 2025, Las Vegas and Seattle are considered prized destinations.

As the league inches closer to finalizing a new domestic media rights deal next year, the desire for NBA franchise ownership has spiked. James, like his millionaire peers O'Neal and Floyd Mayweather, has not been shy about his interest in owning an NBA team in Sin City.

While competing in the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament, hosted in Las Vegas, James reiterated his goal of bringing a team to Nevada.

"It's crazy to say, but Vegas is a sports town," James said. "You look at the Aces, the hockey team, the Raiders, the A's are coming here. Obviously, they just had F1 here… it's a sports town. Hopefully, I can bring my franchise here someday."

James applauded the city's sports acumen and passion for the sport.

"They know what they're watching, they show a lot of support, and sports are gigantic here right now. They definitely support their clubs, that's for sure."

Despite no official word of an expansion, major facility developer Oak View Group has already crafted a $10 billion plan that includes an NBA-ready arena in Las Vegas.

The development would feature a 20,000-seat arena as part of a multi-billion-dollar hotel, gaming, and entertainment district. Oak View Group CEO Tim Leiweke said that its construction will not require public funding.

“I think it helps when you walk into a room and say to them, ‘I do not need your money,’” Leiweke said during a discussion of the 2023 Perspective, which is hosted by the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance.

“We're doing something extraordinary and if we get to the finish line, we will build the largest development in the history of Las Vegas,” Leiweke said.

A timeline for the project has not been established. However, it is possible that the state-of-the-art arena will open in 2026, just one year after Adam Silver plans to wrap up the NBA's domestic media rights deal.

Leiweke said the arena could attract 15 million people annually through sporting events and concerts.

“If you step back and look at the world, Las Vegas is the number one live entertainment market,” Leiweke said, adding that concert events in Las Vegas have four times more attendance in a year than Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles and Madison Square Garden in New York, combined."

Given how lucrative a Las Vegas-based NBA team would be, the bidding war for its ownership rights could shatter records.

In 2022, Mat Ishbia purchased the Phoenix Suns for $4 billion, the most expensive sale of an NBA team in history. Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer purchased the Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion in 2014 from Donald Sterling, who bought the team for $12.5 million in 1981.

Even after the pandemic reduced attendance for a couple of years, the value of NBA teams is still on the rise, according to Forbes.

So, whether it is LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neal, or some other deep-pocketed investor, they will have to stretch their wallet to acquire an NBA team in Las Vegas.