The NBA and commissioner Adam Silver have talked about the possibilities of in-season tournaments, revised playoff formats, and new rules pertaining to tampering, trades, and free agency, but the hottest topic for quite some time in regards to the league’s annual meetings is the idea of league expansion.
The Charlotte Bobcats, now the Charlotte Hornets, were the last expansion team in the NBA back in 2004 and with more and more talent entering the league through the draft, plus the idea of equaling out “superteams” in the league, the NBA could serious re-open conversations about adding two more expansion teams to take the league to 32 total teams.
Ahead of the 2021 NBA Finals, commissioner Adam Silver discussed the possibility of league expansion in the future and made it clear that the league is not ruling out adding new franchises in time.
“The most important considerations for us when we look at expansion is, will it ultimately grow the pie? Meaning, it’s potentially 30 more jobs if you expand with two teams,” Silver said. “You expand the league’s footprint. How does that help us in varying ways, sort of increased support nationally?
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“So we’ll continue to look at it. I mean, I’ve said this many times before, we’re certainly not suggesting we’re locked at 30 teams. I think at some point it will make sense to expand, but it’s just not at the top of the agenda right now.”
Recently, The Ringer’s Bill Simmons stated on his recent episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast that he has “intel” about the league’s interest in expanding a franchise to Las Vegas with LeBron James being in the ownership group.
“I have some intel. I think the league is going to expand to Vegas and Seattle. And I think the leading contender to get that Vegas team is going to be the Fenway Sports Group, that you know,” Simmons said. “I’m just saying, the Vegas thing, I would watch that. I think it’s officially real — LeBron is definitely going to be involved in that.”
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Expanding the league to 32 teams would surely be welcomed by almost everyone in the league and there has been a lot of momentum gained to get a franchise back to Seattle as well, as the city has been wanting another NBA team since the SuperSonics left in 2008 to become the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Within the next few years, it is very reasonable to believe that there will be two new NBA franchises on the map and these three cities are the best suited to be rewarded with an expansion franchise in the near future.
