For many American basketball enthusiasts, the name Miško Ražnatović might not ring a bell. However, in Europe, he is a highly recognized and influential sports agent. His agency, BeoBasket, manages numerous elite players in their European careers and maintains a strategic partnership with Excel Sports, one of the largest agencies in the United States. Notably, Excel’s most prominent client, much like Ražnatović himself, hails from Serbia: the three-time NBA MVP, Nikola Jokić.
Ražnatović gained wider attention among American fans last weekend, partly due to his connection to Jokić. On Saturday, he posted an image on Instagram depicting himself on a boat alongside two of American basketball’s most powerful figures: LeBron James and his long-time business partner, Maverick Carter. The accompanying caption read: “The summer of 2025 is the perfect time to make big plans for the fall of 2026!” This timing is particularly significant as James is slated to become a free agent in the summer of 2026, amid recent reports of his dissatisfaction with the Lakers.
Initially, this photo spurred a wave of speculation from American basketball news outlets about a potential team-up between James and Ražnatović’s star client, Jokić. Yet, such a pairing appears impractical under current circumstances. It`s highly probable that the Denver Nuggets would only be able to offer a minimum-salary contract in free agency next summer, making it highly unlikely that James would accept such a low sum to join their roster.
More clarity on the meeting emerged on Wednesday, when Ben Horney, Daniel Roberts, and Alex Schiffer of Front Office Sports reported that the discussions were not about the Lakers or the Nuggets. Instead, the focus was on an international basketball league in which Carter is currently involved.
When Bloomberg first reported on this concept earlier this year, it was noted that James himself was not directly involved at that time; Carter was described as an advisor to several investors. The proposed league would significantly deviate from the NBA’s traditional model. Rather than having fixed teams in existing cities, it would travel across eight different global cities. Reports suggest it would comprise 12 teams—six men’s and six women’s—allowing the league to minimize overhead costs. This structure would enable them to allocate substantial funds to attract big-name players without needing to fill 30 rosters with 15 players each.
Another crucial aspect is that such a league would not face the same restrictions as the NBA concerning offering players ownership equity, nor would it be limited in accepting investments from sovereign wealth funds. For instance, LIV Golf, the recent competitor to the PGA Tour, utilized Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund to offer golfers enormous sums. Currently, sovereign wealth funds are capped at 5% ownership in any NBA team. Theoretically, this new league could vastly outspend the NBA for top talent, potentially offering gifted players not only equity in the league but also salaries exceeding the NBA’s individual maximum salary caps.
It’s important to acknowledge that we are venturing into purely speculative territory here. The precise details discussed during this yacht meeting remain unknown. However, by considering the context, we can make an informed guess about the discussions and, more importantly, deduce the potential reasons behind this significant meeting.
Could LeBron James Play in This New League?
Let’s assume, given Ražnatović`s Instagram caption and the ongoing rumors surrounding James this offseason, that the possibility of James playing in this hypothetical league was indeed discussed. The appeal for both parties is strikingly clear. If investors are aiming to raise $5 billion to launch a basketball league, they would undoubtedly seek an exceptionally famous figure to be its centerpiece. There is no active basketball player more renowned than LeBron James. His involvement would instantly lend credibility to the venture; people will watch LeBron James play basketball regardless of where he does so.
James himself would find the proposition highly appealing on multiple fronts. The potential financial rewards are substantial. The value of league equity could be immense. If the investors secure $5 billion, how much would they be willing to grant James? Even at 40, James remains a major draw. For comparison, soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, also 40, has earned hundreds of millions over the past few years playing for Al-Nassr FC, a Saudi team. If these investors trust James to get their league off the ground, they might be open to a similar monumental payday.
Rumors about James eventually playing in Europe date back to his prime. In 2008, ESPN reported that James might consider it for an annual salary of approximately $50 million. While such salaries are now common in the NBA—James will earn $52.6 million with the Lakers this season—his earning potential next year is far less certain.
Reports suggest that the Lakers are treating James`s current contract as an expiring deal, with a preference to let it lapse after the 2025-26 season. At that point, James will become a free agent. While some cap space will be available on the open market, and teams like the Clippers and Heat might be able to make significant offers, if James aims to join a championship-caliber team, he would likely need to accept a considerable pay cut. It’s difficult to imagine his hometown Cavaliers, for example, offering more than a minimum-salary deal. The Dallas Mavericks, a team he has reportedly expressed interest in joining, might manage a mid-level offer, but certainly nothing comparable to his current salary. Even if cap space exists, the 2026-27 campaign will be James’s age-42 season. It’s simply unclear what his best offers will be as a free agent. There is a scenario where he is compelled to take a substantial pay cut, a move he has resisted throughout the latter half of his career.
Therefore, potentially joining this nascent league could represent James`s best financial option, and also a way to preserve his stature. If James perceives his NBA offers as disrespectful to his standing in the sport or to his continued high caliber of play, joining this new venture could be a method to remind the basketball world of the immense value he still generates. It also exerts pressure on any teams considering pursuing him, sending a clear message that he has a highly lucrative alternative, prompting them to present a genuinely competitive offer.
All of this aligns perfectly with James’s established strategic approach. He is well-known for leveraging media attention to gain an advantage in negotiations with his teams. If he is using the concept of this international league to reassert his value within the NBA, it would certainly be consistent with his past actions. However, there’s a broader issue at play that we haven`t yet discussed. This meeting might be less about the remainder of LeBron’s playing career and more about what happens after he retires.
The Ownership Angle: LeBron`s Post-Playing Ambitions
James has been very public about his long-term ambition to own an NBA team, even pinpointing Las Vegas as his preferred city. For years, he has openly advocated for control of an expansion franchise in the desert, and his chances of achieving this seemed very strong. However, two recent developments have altered this landscape, neither working in his favor.
The first challenge is the exponential increase in franchise valuations. Consider the Phoenix Suns: Robert Sarver purchased the team in 2004, a year after James was drafted, for a then-record $401 million. When he sold the team nearly two decades later, its valuation had soared to $4 billion—ten times his original investment. While player salaries have certainly risen substantially during this period, they haven’t come close to matching that rate. The salary cap in 2004 was just under $44 million; when the Suns were sold in 2023, it hadn’t even tripled, sitting just below $124 million. NBA players are wealthier than ever, but with franchise valuations outpacing their own earning power, it has become increasingly difficult for them to amass enough wealth to buy a team outright.
According to Forbes, James has an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion. This sum is sufficient to purchase almost anything else, but as per Forbes’ most recent rankings, every NBA franchise is valued at a minimum of $3 billion. This isn’t an insurmountable obstacle. James could undoubtedly assemble a group of investors to acquire a team with him, as a team’s governor only needs to control 15% of the team. James is already part of another ownership group, being an investor in Fenway Sports Group, which owns, among other entities, the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool FC. There has been long-standing speculation that this group might purchase the Las Vegas expansion team with James as the governor.
However, this leads to our second problem. Even if James can gather the necessary investors, there’s no guarantee that a Las Vegas team will materialize in the immediate future. Earlier in July, The Athletic’s David Aldridge and Mike Vorkunov reported that there “is not overwhelming momentum among governors to immediately expand past the current 30 teams.” The reason? The current national media rights deal is so lucrative that some owners prefer not to share it with two new partners. In essence, while a Las Vegas team may eventually come into existence, it is certainly not the immediate certainty it once appeared to be.
Further complicating matters is the NBA’s own interest in expanding into Europe, not through new NBA teams, but via an entirely new league. Adding new NBA teams domestically would inevitably dilute the talent pool available for such a European league. Moreover, the more expansion the league simultaneously focuses on, the more thinly stretched its management resources become. While the NBA could theoretically expand both domestically and internationally, the odds suggest that a sequential approach is more probable.
From this perspective, connecting the dots becomes clearer. James aspires to own an NBA team, but his path to becoming an NBA owner is now more challenging than ever. Concurrently, a new international league is being established, one that could potentially operate in cities the NBA itself might target for a future European league. This nascent league has the capacity to offer James equity, and the NBA would likely prefer not to have James as a direct competitor to its European ambitions.
This preference stems both from James`s direct influence and the legitimacy he would confer upon any competing enterprise. The last thing the NBA desires is to contend with this international entity for top playing talent. This brings us back to Ražnatović, who represents a multitude of outstanding foreign players. The most prominent among them, Nikola Jokić, conspicuously did not sign a contract extension with the Denver Nuggets this offseason. While there are entirely plausible, unrelated reasons for this decision—such as simply maximizing his earnings by waiting until next summer—until he formally commits, the investors behind this new league will undoubtedly consider making him a massive offer when the opportunity arises.
Therefore, this might be a different kind of leverage play—one aimed not at any specific team, but at an entire league. The simplest way for the NBA to neutralize the threat of James as a competitor would be to make him a partner. James has been very transparent about wanting this in the past. If meetings like this help him generate the leverage to make that happen, then it would be irresponsible of him not to at least engage in them.
