LeBron James and business partner reportedly meet with top European agent about new $5 billion basketball league
A post from Miško Ražnatović, described by Eurohoops as the biggest agent in Europe, showed him meeting with the Los Angeles Lakers star and his longtime business partner Maverick Carter, with the caption, "The summer of 2025 is the perfect time to make big plans for the fall of 2026!"
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There was plenty of speculation about what the post meant it popped up on Saturday (James to the Denver Nuggets?!), but Front Office Sports provided the explanation on Wednesday, reporting that the group was discussing a new international basketball league spearheaded by Carter.
This international league has been in the works for months, with Bloomberg reporting in January that Carter was advising a group of investors seeking to raise $5 billion for a league that could rival the NBA.
What would this new international basketball league look like?
Per the Financial Times, investors include the Singaporean government, the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund and a Macau casino operator.
The structure of the league would reportedly consist of six men's teams and six women's teams, touring across eight host cities around the world. Where it gets interesting is that the players will reportedly receive equity in the new league, but won't be able to continue competing in the NBA if they sign up.
There are similar efforts to set up a new league in different sports. The Unrivaled league in women's basketball has also lured the world's top players with a promise of equity, in many cases multiplying their WNBA salaries, but still allows them to compete in the WNBA.
In the other direction, LIV Golf tours internationally and has enticed many big names to leave the incumbent PGA Tour, but without any apparent promise of equity. It's possible some players negotiated a stake in the new tour, but they all appear to well-compensated regardless.
Who would play in this league?
The question now becomes what kind of players would sign up for the league. A $5 billion enterprise sounds big, but it would be competing with a league that just signed $76 billion in television rights deals if it goes after any NBA stars. That's where a meeting with Ražnatović and his European clients come in, as the future of basketball in Europe and elsewhere in the future is beginning to look like a three-way fight.
In corner is the incumbent EuroLeague. In another would be the Carter-led international league. And rounding out the group is the NBA's stated plans of exploring a sort of NBA Europe with new teams on the continent. You would figure that combination raises the price of players around the world, perhaps even giving some older NBA players a bump a la LIV.
James' exact involvement, either as an investor or player, remains to be seen.
There is an enormous amount of stuff we don't know about these brewing leagues, but the amount of money shows just how serious this could get in a sports world where large cash reserves have proven very effective in tearing down the status quo.
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