LeBron rumored to be starting his own basketball league

[og15]

I'm sure they are looking at the rise of popularity among basketball streamers/content creators on social media, guys who are mostly nowhere close to NBA level, a lot of D2/D3 college hoopers, HS guys, JUCO guys, some D1 players. If those guys can get huge on social media and make a ton of money then I'm sure some carefully hand selected players who are from euro league/g-league/nba with the financial backing of billionaires and full force marketing and endorsement from Lebron James could also have some level of success. Definitely more popular than LIV Golf will ever be.

Similarly looking at the growing popularity of the Big3 league.

At the level of wealth they're at, a project like this is just simply an easy money making business venture IMO. There is a market for high level organized basketball with skilled players and right now there isn't a league like the one being proposed here. You have TBT, Big3, NBA/NCAA/Euroleague/International Pro Leagues then social media street ball/1v1s/streamer type content or whatever you want to call it. But the format Lebron and co are proposing is different and would likely have the best players outside of the actual NBA season. Even if the league sort of flounders and never takes off fully it still feels like free money given what the initial hype would be. But it could also take off and considering Lebron so clearly wants to be a controlling owner of an NBA franchise, this seems like a necessary move to generate the cash needed for that to happen.

This is an interesting thought, and yes, it is impressive to see these guys using 1v1, 2v2, storytelling, rivalries, controversy, etc to really get people in, and even have them paying to see PPV events from them.

There's certainly a possible market there if one does it right.

[Black Jack]

tournament format in one place has promise. especially if they do it in exotic locations they could charge more for floor seats etc.

[Ruma85]

LeBron could easily make whatever league he plays in relevant. His name is bigger than the nba So many fans watch him for the Lakers. He would just have to bring a few more ultra talented guys with him. Say LeBron goes to Europe and brings Steph, Trae, AD, Giannis, Jokic, Ja, and Kyrie. If you have at least 2 of those guys on any team, they'd get a lot of views. NBA narrative is soft.

No name is bigger than the NBA.

Jordan’s was.

No.

[bledredwine]

No name is bigger than the NBA.

Jordan’s was.

No.

WRONG *trump voice*

[Ben-N1ce]

It's called getting Saudi money.

[Nate505]

They got 5 billion in the first round.

Also, the goal would be to get it off the ground and then offer the top guys more than NBA cap allows. They know they have to get the top guys to make it work. And what do we find…James and Jokic spearheading it. Hmmm, interesting that.

Unless theyre gonna be a summer league, again, i dont see how it works. You need to build it, but you cant build it if the best players are staying in the NBA. 5 billion is nothing when the top guys are gonna want 70mill+ like theyre getting in the NBA

Players get equity in the team.

And no salary cap.

Think 8 teams, 8 top players getting 100m. There’s 4.2 billion left…from round one of investors. The math can work. And if it starts with James and Jokic…how far behind is Luka and Giannis?

This is a legit threat to the NBA which is suddenly pushing for a Euro league and has a bunch of owners selling.

It's not close to a legit threat. This league will flop hard, because there's no stakes involved. Great, six teams playing each other for the LeBron Cup. Yippee, how exciting.

[cpower]

I like it and he will name it LeGoat league

[JustBuzzin]

Lebron is a better businessman and player than MJ.


It's not even a debate anymore

[Lalouie]

the title of the subject thread speaks volumes about why i dislike lebron

i give him credit for creating this massive enterprise in the lbj universe,,, but i also hated how james used his power. you realize ,,,, lebron didn't HAVE TO BE an @hole, right. he could have been a benign emperor - he chose not to be

basically, the thread title, whether or not it was the op's choice of words, suggest lebron thinks he's bigger than the nba............... what a d***

[Ol Roy]

The last person to try something like this was Trump with the USFL and everyone knows how that ended.

As president

And Herschel Walker as the ambassador to the Bahamas

[dan-man]

Doesn't sound like his Las Vegas expansion is going as planned so he's using this as a negotiating tactic.

100%

[Doctor MJ]

I don't think that's just a rumor. That is something I think they're actually exploring with some significant financial backers.

I actually wondered if the NBAs move to talk with euro league was pushed because of this.


Here's first report I saw from January
https://www.espn.com.au/nba/story/_/id/43441356/sources-maverick-carter-advising-5b-effort-start-new-basketball-league

This has the potential to be a very serious threat to the NBA's global dominance.

[Doctor MJ]

Unless theyre gonna be a summer league, again, i dont see how it works. You need to build it, but you cant build it if the best players are staying in the NBA. 5 billion is nothing when the top guys are gonna want 70mill+ like theyre getting in the NBA

Players get equity in the team.

And no salary cap.

Think 8 teams, 8 top players getting 100m. There’s 4.2 billion left…from round one of investors. The math can work. And if it starts with James and Jokic…how far behind is Luka and Giannis?

This is a legit threat to the NBA which is suddenly pushing for a Euro league and has a bunch of owners selling.

It's not close to a legit threat. This league will flop hard, because there's no stakes involved. Great, six teams playing each other for the LeBron Cup. Yippee, how exciting.

If it gets the best players in the world because it can pay them more than the NBA, it will be a threat.

This is what the WNBA is already dealing with with Unrivaled. Far easier to do in the women's game because everything's cheaper, but there's a similar principle in that you don't need to match the established league's revenue in order to pay higher salaries if you trim the other costs...with kinda by definition, the biggest "cost" being having to share half the revenue with non-player owners.

[Doctor MJ]

LeBron could easily make whatever league he plays in relevant. His name is bigger than the nba So many fans watch him for the Lakers. He would just have to bring a few more ultra talented guys with him. Say LeBron goes to Europe and brings Steph, Trae, AD, Giannis, Jokic, Ja, and Kyrie. If you have at least 2 of those guys on any team, they'd get a lot of views. NBA narrative is soft.

No name is bigger than the NBA.

Jordan’s was.

Don't know I'll co-sign that, but what I will say is:

Doesn't matter which league ends up dominating the global basketball world in the future, the Nike Jordan brand will probably remain dominant. The NBA brand is definitely in a more precarious place than the Jordan brand, and frankly that's true for the LeBron brand, and the brands of other players that have already cemented their legacy.

[zimpy27]

I don't think that's just a rumor. That is something I think they're actually exploring with some significant financial backers.

I actually wondered if the NBAs move to talk with euro league was pushed because of this.


Here's first report I saw from January
https://www.espn.com.au/nba/story/_/id/43441356/sources-maverick-carter-advising-5b-effort-start-new-basketball-league

This has the potential to be a very serious threat to the NBA's global dominance.

It's definitely a threat but it's also an opportunity. I think multiple quality leagues globally can be beneficial to lifting the game as a whole. I don't think the NBA should actively impede it but perhaps they should speed up plans they already had for other regions.

[Nate505]

Players get equity in the team.

And no salary cap.

Think 8 teams, 8 top players getting 100m. There’s 4.2 billion left…from round one of investors. The math can work. And if it starts with James and Jokic…how far behind is Luka and Giannis?

This is a legit threat to the NBA which is suddenly pushing for a Euro league and has a bunch of owners selling.

It's not close to a legit threat. This league will flop hard, because there's no stakes involved. Great, six teams playing each other for the LeBron Cup. Yippee, how exciting.

If it gets the best players in the world because it can pay them more than the NBA, it will be a threat.

This is what the WNBA is already dealing with with Unrivaled. Far easier to do in the women's game because everything's cheaper, but there's a similar principle in that you don't need to match the established league's revenue in order to pay higher salaries if you trim the other costs...with kinda by definition, the biggest "cost" being having to share half the revenue with non-player owners.

I just don't think even getting big names will be that much of a draw in the long term. Sports are about stakes, and there will be no stakes in this new league. The players will already be making ungodly amounts of money, and they'll be earning it for competing for a trophy that has no history or anything behind it. I mean, what is they are playing for. Now they're playing for an NBA Championship, something that the legends of the sport have achieved and even really great players haven't. Playing for the Larry LeBronian trophy? Meh, who cares. Will players even play hard for a trophy that doesn't matter, especially when they have life changing money in the bank.

Without stakes, what exactly is the point. It would be like watching a glorified pickup game. Sure, don't get me wrong, if Ant and Donovan Mitchell are at a pickup game in the Cage when I'm in Manhattan, I'm definitely watching it and it would easily be the highlight of my trip. It doesn't mean that I'd want to tune into this multiple times a year. The novelty will wear off real quickly.

Unrivaled, which seems like a decent side show attraction at best, has the advantage of going against a league that has not mattered much in terms of the US public sport consciousness. The Lebron James league is going to go against a league that has 70+ years of history, with the last 40 years being real important. There's generations of Laker and Celtic fans who probably aren't going to stop being fans just because this league has some good players.

[zimpy27]

I actually like the NBA having to compete with another league. The lack of competition doesn't give them feedback on what they could improve because ultimately people wanting to watch the best basketball come to them regardless of how they package it. But I think the product is not as good as it should be.

[AdamSSSlither]

this is a mutiny.
lebron and jokic must be suspended effective immediately.
ballmer should buy this startup and dismantle it.

[LuDux1]

The only way for NBA to survive is to be renamed Jordan League and make MJ its head of basketball operations...

[donato]

This is a money pit and failure from the start.