Former Los Angeles Lakers star Shaquille O’Neal is interested in owning a Las Vegas expansion team alongside LeBron James.
Since retiring from the NBA more than a decade ago, legendary former Los Angeles Lakers center Shaquille O’Neal has become a business mogul. It’s hard to watch TV for ten minutes without seeing a commercial or two featuring O’Neal, and now the three-time Lakers champion is looking to expand his horizons into NBA ownership.
O’Neal recently talked about his interest in owning a potential NBA team if the NBA expanded to a city like Las Vegas, including whether he would be interested in teaming up with current Lakers star LeBron James, who also has Quite a bit of money spent.
“If an NBA team were to come here (Las Vegas), I would definitely be a part of it,” O’Neal said, according to Arash Markazi of the Courier Journal. “With LeBron, without LeBron, I just Want to be a part of it.”
He also spoke more specifically about what specific role he hopes to play in potential ownership, including whether he would be willing to branch out into other sports besides basketball.
“Not baseball,” O’Neal said. “Maybe football, definitely basketball, but not baseball. I want to be a part of it. There are two types of owners. Some owners just have bragging rights and I’m a part owner, and some people like to make the decisions.” At some point, I want to be involved in the decision-making process. “
With or without LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal appears to have his ownership game plan in place.