Adam Silver claims he is not teasing any fan base when talking about league expansion
For those who want to see a National Basketball Association franchise in Seattle or in Las Vegas in the near future, there is no guarantee the NBA is expanding. However, there may be a glimmer of hope that sometime in 2026, the NBA might get around to expanding according to Commissioner Adam Silver. “Not a secret, we’re looking at this market in Las Vegas. We are looking at Seattle,” Silver said. “We’ve looked at other markets as well. I’d say I want to be sensitive there about this notion that we’re somehow teasing these markets, because I know we’ve been talking about it for a while. I think Seattle and Las Vegas are two incredible cities. Obviously we had a team in Seattle that had great success. We have a WNBA team here in Las Vegas in the Aces. I don’t have any doubt that Las Vegas, despite all of the other major league teams that are here now, the other entertainment properties, that this city could support an NBA team. I think now we’re in the process of working with our teams and gauging the level of interest and having a better understanding of what the economics would be on the ground for those particular teams and what a pro forma would look like for them, and then sometime in 2026 we’ll make a determination.”
The common thought was once the NBA wrapped up its American TV deals and got a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with the players, the next issue on the table was adding teams. But Silver isn’t quite ready to say when the NBA will add teams. Silver doesn’t have the power to order an expansion so it is up to the NBA owners to decide what they want to do. The NBA is in no rush to expand right now.
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