NBA Rumors: Boxing legend Floyd Mayweather proposes to buy NBA team for whopping $2 Billion
Undefeated professional boxer Floyd Mayweather recently revealed that he's looking to purchase an NBA franchise for a whopping $2 billion.
Mayweather spoke about the situation during a recent sit-down discussion, where he revealed a deal has been in the works for some time now. Although there was no word on what franchise Mayweather was looking to purchase, many have suspected it was the Phoenix Suns.
An investigation this offseason revealed that the Phoenix Suns owner had used racist and misogynistic language on more than one occasion. Initially, he seemed reluctant to sell the franchise, shutting down talks of him selling both the Suns and the Phoenix Mercury. He then changed his tune, revealing that he was going to finalize a deal to sell the team.
Despite the fact that Floyd Mayweather has been trying to purchase the team, and Sarver is trying to sell the team, there has been no word on a potential deal. The way Mayweather explained things, he's open to an expansion team or an existing franchise.
"Been working on buying an NBA team outright. One of my other business partners Brent Johnson, he's here, so we've been working on the NBA team for awhile now. You know, it's kind of... it's rough."
After being asked whether he was looking to get in on the long-rumored NBA expansion, Floyd Mayweather went into further detail about his plans.
"It could be the Vegas franchise, it could be the Seattle franchise, or I could be buying a franchise that's already up and running. The first offer, we offered them a little bit over $2 billion for majority ownership. Do I have it? Absolutely I have it."
You can see him speak about this topic in the video below.
Floyd Mayweather's competition for ownership
Of course, if Floyd Mayweather hopes to secure an NBA franchise for himself, he'll have quite a bit of competition.
At the time of Sarver's announcement that he would sell the Suns and the Mercury, it was speculated that Jeff Bezos could purchase the team. The Amazon founder is known for being one of the richest men on the planet, and a pretty big sports fan. Given that, it seemed like a natural fit.
At the same time, rumors began to emerge that Elon Musk, the outspoken owner of Tesla, SpaceX, and now Twitter, could be interested. So far, however, Musk hasn't commented on the situation, although he has been known to dive headfirst into new business endeavors.
Another possibility is Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal, who expressed interest in joining Bezos in purchasing the team several months ago. Despite all the rumors and interest, it is important to mention that nothing has been publicly discussed and no deals have been reached.
It is also important to mention that LeBron James has made his intentions to own a franchise clear. James has even gone so far as to say that he will retire in order to purchase a team if the opportunity presents itself. However, NBA commissioner Adam Silver has revealed that the NBA won't be looking into potentially expanding until the CBA expires.
So it will be interesting to see if Floyd Mayweather gets the opportunity to own an NBA franchise.