A few days ago, Nikola Jokić’s agent, Misko Raznatovic, posted a photo on his Instagram account of him meeting with LeBron James and Maverick Carter, James’ business manager. It immediately led to some speculation regarding the intent of that meeting.
Fans wondered if James was trying to recruit Jokic to the Los Angeles Lakers. After all, the Lakers are rumored to be planning on trying to acquire Jokic within the next couple of years and pair him with Luka Doncic. Some felt that perhaps James was planning to leave the Lakers next summer and sign with Jokic’s Denver Nuggets.
But Ben Horney, Daniel Roberts and Alex Schiffer of Front Office Sports gave a different explanation. According to them, the meeting had to do with a new basketball league Carter wants to start.
“The mysterious boat meeting last week in France between LeBron James, his business partner Maverick Carter, and Nikola Jokić’s European agent was about the planned international basketball league being spearheaded by Carter, multiple sources tell Front Office Sports.
“The photo, posted to Instagram over the weekend by Jokić’s European agent Miško Ražnatović, caused speculation about whether the trio was talking about James joining the Nuggets or Jokić joining the Lakers.
“Sources familiar with the situation tell FOS it was not about the Nuggets or Lakers.”
ESPN reported in January that Carter intends to form an international basketball league that would rival the NBA. It would reportedly consist of six men’s teams and six women’s teams.
The NBA has been the world’s preeminent pro basketball league going back to its founding in the late 1940s. Over the decades, a few rival leagues had tried to compete with it, but they all failed.
