LeBron James has challenged the NBA before, but never like this.
According to one high-ranking team executive, the league’s recent push to fast-track its European expansion may not just be about growing the game. It could be a defensive move to stay ahead of what insiders believe is a real threat: a Saudi-backed international league spearheaded by LeBron James and longtime business partner Maverick Carter.
“I’ll tell you, you may think I’m crazy,” the executive told Sports Business Journal, “but I think the catalyst of this [NBA Europe] going quicker is they’re worried LeBron and Maverick are going to get the Saudis and start, like, a league. I think without question, they think it’s direct competition.”
While LeBron has publicly distanced himself from Carter’s global basketball ambitions, some around the league believe the threat is credible and that if the price is right, not even the NBA could stop its biggest star from rewriting the future of the sport.
“LeBron doesn’t give a sh**,” the exec added. “Not if Saudi gives LeBron $200 million in cash and calls it a night.”
It’s no secret that the NBA has serious expansion plans—just not in the way most fans expected. Rather than adding more franchises to its existing format, Adam Silver and his team have floated the idea of launching a separate league in Europe. According to reports, they’ve already started recruiting clubs to make the leap.
“I think it’s going to happen,” said another league source. “As much as they see it as an opportunity, I also think there’s a bit of a defense mechanism at play. You know, we’ve got to protect the game. I think Adam and Mark [Tatum] believe it’s our responsibility to protect the global game and to commercialize it.”
It would be a bold and unprecedented move by the NBA, one that could potentially grow its global audience and revenue exponentially. With millions of new fans in untapped international markets, a European league would reshape the structure of professional basketball entirely.
But timing is everything, and the NBA’s vision now runs headfirst into LeBron James’ evolving ambitions. Once seen as a future NBA team owner, James may now be setting his sights even higher: launching an entirely independent global league.
Earlier this summer, a photo of LeBron, Maverick Carter, and Nikola Jokic’s agent, Misko Raznatovic, aboard a yacht in France, ignited trade rumors. But reports later revealed the real story—plans for an elite international league with 12 touring teams and massive financial backing, potentially outside the NBA’s ecosystem.
Now, it’s a race. Whether it’s Adam Silver or LeBron James who moves first, the launch of a new international league could redefine the sport’s power structure for decades. Whoever claims that first-mover advantage may not just change basketball, they may own it.
