Mayweather ‘Working’ to Bring NBA Franchise to Las Vegas: Report

Crypto, skyscrapers, roller skate parks, NASCAR racing – the next business venture to go on the burgeoning financial portfolio of Floyd Mayweather Jr. may involve the NBA.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Mayweather, the recently-inducted Hall of Fame boxer and longtime denizen of Las Vegas, is ‘working on behind the scenes’ to establish an NBA team in the gambling capital of North America. Mayweather, per the Review-Journal, made his comments Monday at the M Resort Spa Casino in Henderson, Nevada, to announce his exhibition fight in Japan with Japanese mixed martial artist Mikuru Asakura of RIZIN.

“I’ve been talking to certain individuals for the last six months,” Mayweather said. “That’s something I’ve been working on behind the scenes, but I’ve never came out and publicly talked about that with the media.

“Me and my team have been working behind the scenes with the NBA. I can’t say exactly where, but I’m working on getting a team.”

While NBA commissioner Adam Silver has ruled out the idea of expanding the league in the near future, both Las Vegas and Seattle have long been rumored as front-runners for NBA expansion teams.

Mayweather’s comments arrived not long after NBA star Lebron James declared his desire to own an NBA team in Las Vegas. James, whose net worth was pinned at more than a billion dollars by Forbes recently, has long spoken about his intentions to start an NBA franchise, but this was the first time he specified a location. James, 37, is a part-owner of Liverpool FC and the Boston Red Sox.

Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs), who retired from professional boxing after stopping UFC star Conor McGregor in the 10th round, has been active in the boxing exhibition sphere. His last exhibition was held in May in Dubai against Don Moore. Mayweather’s upcoming exhibition with Asakura, in September, will be the second time the five-division titlist has participated in an exhibition in Japan. In 2018, he stopped Tenshin Nasukawa in the opening round on a RIZIN-promoted card.

Mayweather, 45, joined nearly 40 other inductees who saw their names enter the history books last weekend at the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York.