LAS VEGAS — Adam Silver gave his latest hints that the NBA will have a big focus on expansion in the years to come, if not even closer to saying it will be promoted to the league.
Silver cautioned against expecting the league to act hastily. It must first secure its next media rights deal — its exclusive negotiation window with its current TV partners ends next April, and that TV deal ends after the 2024-25 season — before considering an expansion.
“Once these new media deals are in place, we will move on to expansion,” Silver said Monday at the annual APSE conference. “It’s not a sure thing, but like I said before, I think it’s natural for organizations to grow over time.”
Silver had previously said expansion would be the next item on the NBA’s agenda, calling it the third act in a list that included the newly signed collective bargaining agreement and upcoming media deal.
He never rejected the expansion in principle, but dismissed it as a possible goal for the future. The league currently consists of 30 teams and has not added a new one since the Charlotte Bobcats, now the Hornets, were formed in 2004. The NHL is the only one of the four major North American professional sports leagues to have since added a franchise.
Seattle and Las Vegas are the two cities most often considered as possible expansion locations for the NBA. The league left Seattle when the Supersonics moved to Oklahoma City. Las Vegas has added NHL, NFL, and WNBA teams over the past decade, and an MLB team could be added in the next few years.
Silver spoke well of Las Vegas, which has become a hotbed of NBA activity. The Summer League is currently underway, but the league also hosts its G League Showcase there every winter and recently announced that its first season finale will be held here next December. He called the Summer League “our 31st franchise.”
“We’re going to look at that market,” he said. “There is no doubt that interest in Seattle is enormous. That’s no secret. There are other markets that have expressed interest. For the people hearing or reading about this interview: We are not currently involved in this process. We are currently not hosting meetings with potential groups. What we say privately to everyone is what I say publicly, that at this point there will already be a very open process to think about enlargement. But that’s not the case yet. It’s not that far yet.”
Silver said he wants to finalize the CBA and media rights deal so potential ownership groups would have certainty about the league and how it looks.
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(Photo: Jennifer Pottheiser/NBAE via Getty Images)