Even LeBron James is obsessive about America’s pickleball craze. He simply purchased a group

James and his enterprise associate, Maverick Carter, introduced Wednesday that they’d be part of an possession group of a Main League Pickleball (MLP) group. The duo will personal the group by LRMR Ventures, their household workplace.

“Once I began taking part in pickleball, I instantly related with the game’s group and its capability to be each enjoyable and aggressive,” Carter mentioned in an interview with CNBC. “To see the game rising in communities throughout is de facto thrilling, and we’re wanting ahead to bringing our experience collectively to attempt to construct a championship group.” 

Different members of the group embrace funding agency SC Holdings and different NBA gamers like Kevin Love and Draymond Inexperienced.

The monetary phrases of the deal weren’t disclosed.

MLP is the primary skilled U.S. pickleball league. It was based in 2021 and has 12 co-ed groups of 4 gamers every. The 2022 season finale will happen in October, when 48 gamers will compete for $100,000 for the successful group. 

The rising curiosity by traders and newbie gamers has been a chance for MLP, which is increasing its roster of groups to 16. “The MLP growth to 16 groups allowed for a lot of potential traders – each people and teams – to submit bids for the 4 new groups,” Anne Worcester, MLP’s strategic advisor and board member, advised Fortune. “We acquired overwhelming curiosity from 60+ teams for these groups which far exceeded our expectations.”

Pickleball, a mixture of tennis and desk tennis, has a rising fan following, highlighted by the staging {of professional} matches in a number of the nation’s most distinguished tennis venues. The game has 4.8 million fanatics within the U.S., in accordance with the Sports activities & Health Trade Affiliation, together with Invoice Gates and the Kardashian household. The game has additionally been attracting new investments, with retired NFL icon Drew Brees and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk additionally pouring cash in to help it.