Will the NBA be next in losing players to Saudi Arabia?

The biggest sports topic of the year is Saudi Arabia's new influence in the sporting world, offering obscene amounts of money to some of the biggest sports stars in the world.

The sports majorly affected by the wealth of the Saudi establishment of football and golf, losing players to the newly formed LIV Golf Tour or footballers moving to the Saudi Pro League.

Cristiano Ronaldo was the first major star to move to the middle east, earning over $200 million in just two years. Since then, Karim Benzema has joined the league, and a major influx of Premier League stars has followed.

The biggest and most recent offer from Saudi Arabia was for French star Kylian Mbappe, offering PSG a world record bid of $332 million, and early reports suggested he would make $776 million in just one year.

Since then, Al Hilal confirmed he wasn't going to make that much money for the year, but NBA players had their say on the speculation of the first potential $1 billion deal.

Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo shared his thoughts on Twitter, saying: "Al Hilal, you can take me. I look like Kylian Mbappe."

Even basketball GOAT LeBron James had his say on the Kylian Mbappe transfer, jokingly saying: "Me headed to Saudi when they call @richpaul4 and @mavcarter for that one-year deal!"

Four-time NBA champion and Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green said, "They got basketball leagues too, right? The ink on my contract hasn't dried up yet."

To answer Draymond Green's question, Saudi Arabia does have its own basketball league – the Saudi Basketball League.

The league has 12 teams in it, with a few of them linked to the Saudi Pro League teams, including Al Ittihad, Al Hilal, and Al Nasr.

The 12-team league has recently been backed by the country's Public Investment Fund, reportedly valued at over $640 billion.

The NBA changed its rules last year to allow sovereign wealth funds to buy minority stakes in NBA teams. Like private equity funds, sovereign wealth funds cannot own more than 20% of a team.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said that no Saudi-backed fund has tried to invest in an NBA team and that no players have yet been formally approached.

According to theathletic.com, Silver said: "We allow funds to invest in teams but not control teams, not to influence teams. So, to own an NBA team, there has to be an individual with a certain percentage of the team to control it."

The Saudi-backed establishment may not be able to control the NBA like it has the Premier League, taking over clubs like Newcastle United. However, NBA players may be attracted by the prospect of money like Premier League players have been.

As the Public Investment Fund widens its sporting sphere and bigger names start to move to the country, NBA players may look at joining the Saudi Basketball League.