The NBA Board of Governors voted on Wednesday to authorize the league to explore potential expansion teams for Las Vegas and Seattle that would bring the league to 32 clubs.
The move is the first step in a lengthy process that could lead to a new team in Seattle, where the SuperSonics once played before moving to Oklahoma City, and Las Vegas, which has hosted NBA All-Star events and each year hosts Summer League games involving recruits and free agents.
As part of the process, the NBA engaged investment bank PJT Partners as a strategic adviser to evaluate prospective markets, ownership groups, arena infrastructure and broader economic implications of adding two new teams.
“Today’s vote reflects our board’s interest in exploring potential expansion to Las Vegas and Seattle -– two markets with a long history of support for NBA basketball,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said.
“We look forward to taking this next step and engaging with interested parties.”
It would take approval by 23 of the NBA’s 30 governors to pass any motion on adding new teams, a move still several steps away.
Team values have skyrocketed in recent years with the price tag for any new club expected to be in the range of $7 billion to $10 billion.
The Phoenix Suns were sold in 2022 for a then-record NBA sum of $4 billion, but the Boston Celtics were sold last year for $6.1 billion and the Los Angeles Lakers were sold the same year for $10 billion — the highest-ever price paid for a US sports team.
Expectations are for the league to add the new teams, if approved, in the 2028-29 campaign.
The NBA last expanded in 2004 when adding a team in Charlotte, North Carolina.
– Sporting hotbeds –
Should Seattle and Las Vegas both land expansion teams, the league would likely place both in the Western Conference and move one current West team into the Eastern Conference, with the Memphis Grizzlies and Minnesota Timberwolves most often mentioned as likely teams to make that shift.
The Seattle SuperSonics joined the NBA in 1967 as an expansion team and won the city’s only NBA title in 1979. The Sonics made their last NBA Finals in 1996, losing to Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls.
Seattle boasted such top players as Spencer Haywood and Gary Payton, and Kevin Durant captured the 2008 NBA Rookie of the Year award in the final season before the team relocated to Oklahoma City, which celebrated a first NBA title in its new home last season.
Las Vegas has been the home of the Women’s NBA Aces since 2018 and that team has taken three of the past four WNBA crowns.
Both cities have seen a boost in sporting fortunes in recent years, each landing a National Hockey League expansion club — the Vegas Golden Knights opening in 2017 and Seattle Kraken starting in 2021 — which have drawn impressive crowds.
Each city has an NFL squad and Las Vegas is scheduled to match Seattle with a Major League Baseball team in 2028 when a new stadium opens for the former Oakland Athletics.
The NFL Raiders moved to Las Vegas from Oakland in 2020 and Vegas also hosts many special sporting events, including a Formula One race.
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