The NBA could look very different in a few years.
The NBA has been flirting with expansion for years now, but Adam Silver says a decision is coming in 2026.
The NBA commissioner told reporters Tuesday before the NBA Cup championship game that the league will make a "determination" about domestic expansion next year. He specifically threw out Seattle and Las Vegas as possibilities for new teams, citing Seattle's past with the SuperSonics and the many NBA-connected activities already held in Vegas.
His comments:
"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 in Las Vegas in the Aces. We've been playing the Summer League here for 20 years. Playing our Cup games here, so we're very familiar with this market. I don't have any doubt that Las Vegas is, despite all the major league teams here and 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."
Seattle and Las Vegas have indeed loomed as potential NBA cities for enough time that Silver conceded he was "sensitive" about the notion the league was "somehow teasing these markets."
Both cities, of course, also have their drawbacks. The SuperSonics' have a beloved legacy, but the franchise was moved for reasons that any prospective expansion project will have to address. And while Vegas already has plenty of ties to the NBA, it's a highly competitive market from an entertainment perspective and Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix reports the city's economic downtown has not gone unnoticed by the NBA.
Domestic expansion is one way the NBA can expand its business operations. The other notable way is the NBA Europe project announced earlier this year.
That effort has been undertaken alongside FIBA secretary general Andreas Zagklis and seems to still be in the early stages, with Silver claiming the league has received a large amount of interest but would require a large amount of investment:
"We've engaged with JP Morgan as well as investment firm Raine. They have been meeting with interested parties in Europe, a combination of existing clubs, organizations that own clubs in other leagues, city officials, many of whom I've met with, leaders of state, in terms of their interest. We've heard a lot of very positive interest in our moving forward. We in our league office are still working on the economic model, want to make sure it makes sense.
"Many of the cities we'd like to be in don't have a sufficient arena infrastructure, so that's something we would need to work on in terms of private investment, maybe we work with municipalities as well. We have been moving along on a very constructive path."
With the NBA's direct involvement, Europe projects to be a competitive market in the coming years. There is already the incumbent EuroLeague and the many domestic leagues, and there have been a rumblings of a LIV Golf-style upstart league involving the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, the Singaporean government, a Macau casino operator and LeBron James' business partner Maverick Carter.
Category: General Sports
