Just like Michael Jordan, LeBron James wears the #23. Just like MJ, LeBron wants to be the best of all-time. Just like MJ, LeBron is the best player in the league. There are many more similarities between the two NBA stars, but also one big difference: Michael Jordan owns an NBA team and LeBron James doesn’t.
LeBron wants to change that after he retires.
In the days leading up to his seventh straight trip to the NBA Finals, LeBron took some time to sit down and be interviewed by The Athletic
During the one-on-one, LeBron and Ken Berger discussed a lot of different topics, including LeBron’s retirement plans. Berger even broke the news that LeBron is going to retire at some point in the future! Wait, that’s not really breaking news. Well one thing Berger did disclose and get out of LeBron was how King James wants to be just like MJ when it comes to owning an NBA team:
“I will own a team someday,” James said. “That’s my next thing.”
“Why do I want to own team? I think it’ll be cool. I’ll stay part of the game and still be able to put people in positions of power. I’ve always loved that, putting people in a position of power to feel like they can make a change and make things happen.”
Since he was drafted first overall back in 2003, James has consistently been asked about how he compares to Jordan. As a result, it’s not surprising that LeBron is going to keep following MJ’s path after he retires.
The one big difference may be in the team they own. Jordan is the Principal Owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, a franchise he never played for during his lengthy and successful NBA career. LeBron on the other hand would probably want to own the Cavaliers, his hometown team.
This of course is a complete guess as I don’t really have any idea what team LeBron wants to own, but it kind of makes sense that he would want to own the team he won a ring for, was drafted by, and grew up rooting for. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of ownership stake LeBron would be looking for when the time comes.
Dan Gilbert is the majority owner of the Cavs, while Gordon Gund and Usher Raymond are minority owners. If LeBron were to hypothetically purchase a piece of the Cavaliers, someone would have to give up a piece of their pie. This of course is assuming James only wanted to own a portion of his hometown team. There are other teams LeBron could own too, and we won’t know which one he could go with until after he retires at some point in the future.
