Former Los Angeles Lakers iconic center Shaquille O’Neal has built himself as something of a business entrepreneur after his retirement from the NBA over a decade ago. It’s difficult to watch television for 10 minutes without seeing one or two commercials featuring O’Neal, and the three-time Lakers champion is now hoping to expand his horizons into NBA ownership.
O’Neal recently expressed interest in owning a possible NBA franchise in a city such as Las Vegas, including if he’d be interested in working with current Lakers star LeBron James, who also has a lot of money to spend.
“If an NBA team ever comes here [to Las Vegas], I would definitely like to be involved,” O’Neal told Arash Markazi of The Messenger. “With LeBron, without LeBron, I just want to be involved.”
He also discussed what exact position he would like to play in a prospective ownership, including whether or not he would be prepared to venture into sports other than basketball.
“Not baseball,” O’Neal said. “Perhaps football, maybe basketball, but not baseball.” I’d want to get involved. There are two kinds of property owners. There’s the owner who only cares about bragging rights, I’m a half owner, and there are guys who want to make decisions. I’d like to participate in decision-making at some point.”