With a little more than a year left in the White House, President Barack Obama has started making plans for what comes next.
Perhaps it should come as no surprise that as an avowed basketball fan, the president has harbored dreams of one day owning an NBA team. Obama told Bill Simmons in an interview with GQ on Tuesday that he would be interested in the idea:
Would you ever want to be part of the ownership for an NBA team?
Absolutely.
Would it have to be the Bulls, or would it have to be somebody else?
Well, you know, I know [Jerry] Reinsdorf pretty good—he’s not giving that thing up anytime soon. But I have fantasized about being able to put together a team and how much fun that would be. I think it’d be terrific.
And just in the interest of sports page speculation, NBA owner Obama could try to build his future team around one of Chicago's native icons, Derrick Rose. The president hasn't given up on the oft-injured Bulls guard, he told Simmons:
Here’s one you have to answer: Who’s more untradable, Derrick Rose or Jay Cutler?
[pause] Oh, I think Rose still has more upside. Remember, Rose is still awfully young.
So you haven’t given up on Rose?
I’ve not given up on him. Sadly, I think it’s hard to imagine, after that many injuries, him getting back to his MVP-season performance. But he can still be a top-ten point guard.
If NBA ownership doesn't work out for the president, he also has his eye on other sports gigs. Though Obama says he would be "best suited for basketball" if he were to throw his hat in the ring for a commissioner's job, he can't help but notice how much the NFL pays its top boss, Roger Goodell.
"I cannot believe that the commissioner of football gets paid $44 million a year," Obama said before playfully declining to weigh in on the tiff between Simmons and Goodell.
Of course, the way the NBA is going right now, owning one of those franchises isn't exactly a money-losing proposition.
You can read Obama's full interview with GQ here.
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