King James Gospel
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5 NBA teams LeBron James would want to own

By Quenton S. Albertie

Jun 16, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) speaks to the media after game six of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors at Quicken Loans Arena. The Cavaliers won 115-101. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 16, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) speaks to the media after game six of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors at Quicken Loans Arena. The Cavaliers won 115-101. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jun 10, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers fans listen to music on a stage outside the arena before game four of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 10, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers fans listen to music on a stage outside the arena before game four of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /

Cleveland Cavaliers

Dan Gilbert is a Detroit-native and if there’s ever an opportunity for him to pry the Detroit Pistons away from owner Tom Gores, there’s every reason to believe he will.

Many of Gilbert’s well-known businesses, like Quicken Loans, are based in Detroit, Michigan. He’s invested a significant amount of money into land development and business in Detroit and buying the Pistons would be another pet project for Gilbert. If he managed to get the Detroit Pistons back to their glory days, there could be an economic boon for the city of Detroit down the line, a la Cleveland.

The reason to believe Detroit would sell? Gores and his investment firm, Platinum Equity, are the owners of the Pistons. As Fortune‘s Dan Primack pointed out when Gores was first announced as the owner of the Pistons, this made the Pistons the first team to be owned by a private equity fund and the purchase of the team is an investment meant to be sold down the line.

Hence why he and his *investment* firm own the Pistons. What would it take to get the Pistons to sell? Of course a large sum of cash but the Pistons may be willing to sell to Gilbert only because of his genuine love of Detroit. The downtown Detroit area would be left in great hands as Gilbert is a great businessman, whatever else you may think of him.

For James, the Cavs are the only NBA team James could purchase in Ohio; it might as well count as James’ home team. His NBA career, even in the days he was a member of the Miami Heat, has been synonymous with Cavs’ basketball even before he was drafted. James owning the team would be a dream come true for the residents of Cleveland, especially because they know of James’ eye for talent.

One day the Cavs, and Cleveland, will no longer have the best player in the sport playing for their team. Having James as the owner would be a nice consolation prize though.