-Now, if Las Vegas does get an NBA team, where will it play?

A developer called Oak View Group says it's building an NBA-ready arena and a new resort south of the Las Vegas Strip.

-On this arena, I'm not asking anybody for any money.

We're not going before the state.

We're not going before the county.

We will go build it on our own privately.

-Joining us now to expand on that possibility as well as why else he thinks NBA expansion could be next for Las Vegas is Sam Gordon, sports columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Sam, welcome.

-(Sam Gordon) Amber, I appreciate you having me.

-All right.

So Oak View Group, what makes this developer and its proposal different from all that we've seen come and go in Las Vegas?

-I think it's the extensive track record.

They have a big portfolio of arenas, of venues that they've managed for several years now.

And talk about Seattle, they were behind the renovations of the old KeyArena, now Climate Pledge Arena, where the Seattle Kraken play.

So they know what they're doing.

They are tried and true at this.

There's a lot-- there's a lot to show that.

And the fact that it's a privately funded arena, too, obviously helps.

That's a lot easier to get that thing done than it would be with public funding, as we're kind of seeing with the A's with what they're going through and kind of with that.

So it's totally viable.

They have a track record.

They have executives that know sports, that know this market.

Randy Morton formerly ran the Bellagio, right, worked with the Foley Group.

So he knows this market.

He knows entertainment here as well as pretty much anybody, right, given his history of the Bellagio.

And then Marc Badain, so instrumental in bringing the Raiders here and getting Allegiant Stadium done in working with that transition from Oakland to Vegas.

So you've got the sports angle covered.

You got the casino element covered.

You have the expertise, the institutional knowledge of what it takes to bring a team here, of what succeeds here, of what works and what doesn't work.

So those two, having them aboard and kind of anchoring this project, is massive for Oak View master for Las Vegas and potentially an eventual NBA team here.

-The Foley Group being Bill Foley, the owner of the Vegas Golden Knights, his Entertainment Group.

So I'm thinking, I imagined some of our viewers might be thinking, Okay, nice to have a new arena, but why not utilize T-Mobile Arena?

-Yeah, that's a great question, Amber.

T-Mobile Arena, obviously built with basketball locker room.

So you know, the versatility is there.

We've seen preseason games; of course, the college basketball, a lot of college basketball, non-conference games coming to T-Mobile Arena.

Obviously, the Golden Knights do very well there.

But it's a lot of dates, it's a lot of sharing, and you might not necessarily want to do that.

It's not a prerequisite to share an arena with a hockey team, per se.

And if you have an ownership group or, you know in this case, Oak View willing to privately fund a brand new place exclusively for an NBA team, like that's a much better deal for the NBA team as opposed to having to work with T-Mobile arena, having to work with MGM with the Golden Knights to find a date.

So if it's available, like why not?

-Now, as you reported in October, LeBron James said he would love to bring a team here.

Why is that significant outside of him being an NBA superstar?

-Yeah, well, he has an investment stake in the Fenway Sports Group, which has an extensive ownership portfolio.

Obviously, the Boston Red Sox are the one-- the team that come to mind here, Major League Baseball, also the Pittsburgh Penguins, and then Liverpool in the English Premier League.

So he already has some experience in ownership, and he's a billionaire, right?

Now it's that last year, so just his-- if you want an expansion team, you want to build excitement.

Is there a better kind of face of a new team than LeBron James?

I don't think so.

He's been vocal about it several times publicly.

So there's gonna be other ownership groups, I'm sure, that are interested in coming in, given the opportunity here.

But if you're the NBA, what's the most attractive?

I don't think it gets any bigger than Lebron James?

-Well, we got to talk about the WNBA as well, the World Champion Las Vegas Aces.

What role do they play in bringing an NBA team here?

-Well, I think they've just shown that you build a winner, that the fans are gonna come support it and want to be a part of it.

And this season, attendance at an all-time high average attendance season, ticket renewal rates, they're 19 and 2 at the All-Star break.

They're the best team in the league.

And they've just kind of showcased what you can build in terms of having your franchise being the first professional basketball franchise here.

So whether the NBA chooses to follow them, and I ultimately think it will, they've kind of set the standard for excellence in basketball here in Las Vegas at the professional level with what they're doing.

So definitely kind of, you know, potential precursor.

But even standing alone, they've accomplished quite a bit already in just a short time.

-They sure have.

And the Aces by the way, as you wrote are, quote, the only superteam in the WNBA.

What makes you say that?

-Yeah, so very interesting offseason, right, with the New York Liberty loading up to try and compete with the Aces, but the Aces played the Liberty and blew them out.

And just what they have that the Liberty doesn't have at least right now is the chemistry, is the reps, is years of experience playing together, playing in big games.

And if all things are equal, talent being equal, I do think the Aces are a more talented team kind of top to bottom.

Chemistry and execution and togetherness and team sports, I think always is kind of the tipping, you know, the determining factor in when things are equal.

So not only are the Aces a better roster, but they have more talent, they have more chemistry, they've been through it, and the Liberty are going to have to take some time to develop that.

You can expedite that process.

So I think we've seen kind of the championship DNA at various junctures this season, and we're definitely going to see it in the postseason, I think, when that gets going in the fall.

-And the Aces have a league leading, four All-Star selections, which will be playing in the All-Star game at Michelob Ultra Arena.

Now, MGM used to own the ACES before they sold the team to Raiders owner Mark Davis.

Wasn't there a thought at one time that MGM was buying the Aces as a precursor to owning an NBA team, potentially?

-In some ways for sure.

I think there's definitely-- there was definitely an interest from MGM to acquire an NBA team.

And having an opportunity to get in that space with the Aces, I think, was kind of a way to get that going.

But as you mentioned, right, they sold the Aces to Mark Davis.

And MGM for as experienced as they are an entertainment and building what we have here in Las Vegas in so many ways, not experienced at running a franchise, per se.

So you see Mark Davis take over.

His experience running the Raiders is just institutional knowledge of sports and how leagues work and how it-- what it requires to run a business has helped take the franchise to the next level.

But definitely MGM kind of got the ball rolling here with the Aces of course being here and continuing the dialogue around bringing an eventual NBA franchise as well.

-As Tim Leiweke the chairman of Oak View Group said, he does acknowledge MGM is competition in this area of bringing an arena here or of possibly housing an NBA team.

But I wonder if they're also, you know, an ownership potential.

-I mean, I think there's gonna be a lot of different groups.

When you have-- when you talk about expansion, the opportunity here, the way the Las Vegas market is grown, it's a lucrative opportunity.

So I wouldn't write them off by any means.

I mean, they don't necessarily have the glitz and the glam, I think big picture for MBA, that an ownership group led by LeBron James would have, but they're MGM.

You associate them with Las Vegas.

They go hand-in-hand.

Of course they have the resources and capabilities if they want to get involved, and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if once that bid came became available if they kicked the tires and saw what it looked like.

-So we don't know where a Las Vegas NBA team would play just yet.

But we do know that they will not be playing at Sphere.

That is at least what its COO told your coworker Rick Velotta.

Sphere, though, did put on quite an LED show for Summer League, which we have some video of.

About summer league, Adam Silver said, quote, all of our events, when we're thinking about going to so-called neutral markets, Las Vegas is always in the top group of cities we can consider, end quote.

So with an NBA team here, they get rid of that neutral site.

Do they really want to get rid of that neutral site?

-Yeah, I think so.

I think just kind of big picture, you know, considering expansion here and permanently having roots in this market year round is the next step.

I mean, it would be one of the next steps, and that's why they're discussing expansion.

And you take a look, Amber, at the history of the NBA and Vegas, goes back a long time.

The Utah Jazz, I think, had a cup of coffee here in the early 1980s.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broke the NBA all-time scoring record here.

There was a playoff game here in the early 90s, of course the All-Star game, and Adam Silver has always been one of the most ardent believers in this market even when the perception was kind of wavering based on some of the stuff that happened around the 2007 All-Star game.

He remained tried and true that Las Vegas has a lot of value.

Summer League here, of course the NCAA tournament coming in December, the Aces, there's a ton of professional basketball here now that the NBA is connected to and expansion, again, the logical next step given the how strong the ties are already.

-And I'm glad you brought that in-season tournament up.

They just announced that they're going to have their first ever in-season tournament this season, the semifinals and finals of which will be here in Las Vegas.

How significant is that?

-Yeah, I think it remains to be seen how significant it is for the NBA at large, but for Vegas, for us in Las Vegas, it's massive, right?

These are gonna be the most significant basketball games played in Las Vegas yet.

Not Summer League, which is fun but for young players and for rookies and whatnot.

Not preseason games where, you know, teams are trying to figure out who's making the roster, and those are more so for fun.

These are gonna be regular season games where there's going to be stakes for the players, financial incentives to win this tournament, trying to create some urgency in a regular season.

And I feel like it has lacked some urgency the last few years with load management, some injuries to star players, and just kind of the difference in the level of play in the postseason, the regular season.

So understandable why the league wants to drum up some interest in the regular season.

And like personally, right, what better market than Las Vegas, again, strengthening those ties and bringing meaningful games to Vegas in December in the heart of the regular season.

-And the last thing, a lot of the headlines surrounding Summer League has been around the Spurs' number one pick, Victor Wembanyama.

You said he made quite a splash, a significant appearance despite not performing so well, at least on offense.

Why was it so significant?

-The potential that he has as a player, right, seven-three, seven-four.

We've never quite seen anybody with his skill set at that size, his ability to block shots in defense and to cover so much ground, his ball handling, his shooting, and it's been a long time coming.

We've been preparing for Victor Wembanyama to play in the NBA for nine months.

He comes over for France.

His season just ends, what, three weeks ago, a month ago, and he still showed up and he still played and he's still participated.

I think that in and of itself speaks volumes about his competitive nature first and foremost, but also his understanding of what he can potentially mean to the next generation of the NBA.

So fans were there hours early.

There was tons of chatter throughout.

It was buzzing in a way that I've never seen NBA Summer League buzz.

So it's just, again, a continuance of what this market means and the understanding of how valuable Summer League is to Las Vegas and for young players like Victor Wembanyama who are getting their NBA career started.

-Sam Gordon of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, you've got us all pumped up for the NBA.

-Thank you so much, Amber.

I appreciate you having me.

Thank you.