Lakers News: LeBron James Could Join Ownership Group for Loathed LA Rival

This would feel a bit like a betrayal to Lakers fans.

Apr 29, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) in the third quarter against the Denver Nuggets during game five of the first round for the 2024 NBA playoffs at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports / Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

The Los Angeles Lakers' most important player, 20-time All-Star forward LeBron James, has long talked about getting into NBA team ownership once he's hung up his Nikes for good.

Now, according to Josh Kosman of The New York Post, an ownership group with whom the four-time MVP is involved when it comes to other sports is circling one of the league's most storied franchises. Unfortunately, that franchise is the one team with whom Lakers fans absolutely would not want to see James involved.

“Boston Red Sox Owner Fenway Sports Group and RedBird Capital that partner closely with LeBron James are seriously considering bidding for the Celtics, sources close to the situation said," Kosman reports. "James, who still stars for the Lakers, could not be a part of Celtics ownership now, sources said. But with the sale being a two-step process — where 49 percent of the team isn’t sold until 2028 — he could easily still end up being an owner of the Lakers’ hated rivals as the 39-year-old should be retired by that time.”

James has previously been linked with owning a piece of a potential NBA expansion team in Las Vegas. That market and Seattle are considered the favorites whenever the league does decide to add additional teams. Following the announcement of the league's lucrative new broadcast rights agreement with Amazon, NBC and ESPN/ABC, it seems likely that one or two new teams emerge sooner rather than later.

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The relative proximity of Las Vegas to L.A., where James and his family have now been settled since 2018 (and he has a variety of bountiful business interests), has been cited as a key reason he may want to stick with a Southwest franchise.

But James does hold stakes in multiple other sports franchises with Fenway Sports Group and RedBird Capital, and that team clearly would have the means to make a bid for L.A.'s least-favorite other club, against whom the Lakers have played in 12 NBA Finals. It would be quite the heel turn for Los Angeles fans, but then again the Lakers faithful at large has been a bit slow to embrace James in the same way it appreciated recent prior Hall of Fame Lakers like Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, in part because James was established as a direct rival to Bryant's quest for MVPs and titles for over a decade.

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