The NBA's board of governors next week will vote on thepossibility of adding expansion teams in Seattle and Las Vegasfor the 2028-29 season, according to ESPN's Shams Charania, and there is reportedly "momentum" toward approval.
Approval, which requires a vote in favor from 23 of the league's 30 owners, would open bidding to offers expected to reach as high as $10 billion, the recent sale price of the Los Angeles Lakers, per Charania. Final approval could come "later in the year."
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The WNBA, NFL, NHL and Major League Baseball have all expanded into Seattle or Las Vegas, or both, in recent years. They are, after all, two of the wealthiest markets.
As soon as news dropped — first thing on a Monday, right when morning talk shows needed a jolt — I thought: On one hand, the league is deep enough to expand into 32 teams; on the other, a third of the NBA is tanking already. Pros and cons, you figure.
Hey, a good gimmick: Pros and cons of NBA expansion into Seattle and Las Vegas.
Pro: The NBA is deeper than ever
After yet another draft loaded with talent, there is more of it in the NBA than ever. Welcome Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel, among others, to a field of 450 players, all of whom can play. There are guys in the G League and elsewhere that can really play.
Last year's Sixth Man of the Year, Payton Pritchard, would have been an All-Star in the 1980s and would have dominated the 1950s. It is just a fact of life. Athletes get bigger, stronger, faster; they train harder and smarter. There are more elite athletes than ever.
And more places to draw from. Last year's draft alone featured players from Russia, the Bahamas, South Sudan, France, China, Lithuania, Canada, Israel, Spain, the United Kingdom, Australia, Switzerland, the Dominican Republic, Serbia, Ukraine and Italy.
The defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, as another example, added Jared McCain, who was a Rookie of the Year contender as recently as the middle of last season, to a roster that is already stacked with talent; and he is fully capable of helping them win games.
Where to put all these talents? The NBA adds 60 draftees to its pool of 450 players each year. On the way are AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer and more. Why not add 64 to a field of 480, then? What is the difference? The spots will get filled, the league will persist, and 20 years from now you won't remember which was the last team to enter the league. If the product is as good as it is now, you'll take it.
Con: Are there enough superstars to go around?
Do we have enough superstars to field these new teams? The 15-man All-NBA roster will be a tough one to crack, but once we got past the initial round of 24 All-Stars this year, the league started to name Brandon Ingram, Alperen Şengün and De'Aaron Fox as replacements — hardly the household names who put a**es in seats from city to city, night to night.
Once you get past, say, Deni Avdija on the Portland Trail Blazers, you are kind of running out of the types of offensive engines who can power entire franchises, and even he may be a stretch. Attendance numbers may be decent, because it is still something to do on a Friday night in the city, but I am sure people are not lining up to watch Alex Sarr on the Washington Wizards or Egor Dёmin on the Brooklyn Nets.
Pro: Two more destination cities
According to Charania, Seattle and Las Vegas are both expected to "be among the NBA's top eight revenue generators," mostly because they are both destination cities.
People want to spend time in Las Vegas and Seattle, just like they want to spend time in Miami and the Bay Area. NBA players are no different. Think of the success the Heat and Warriors have enjoyed in recent decades. Might Vegas and Seattle soon join them as power players on anyone's list of preferred trade or free-agent destinations?
Con: More tanking
We already have as many as 10 teams — from the Milwaukee Bucks on down the standings — who are tanking the remainder of the season for a better draft pick.
Either that, or they are the New Orleans Pelicans, who can't get out of their own way.
Point is: There are already a lot of teams who do not treat the regular season with the respect it deserves. Do we really need to be adding more teams on top of that mix?
Pro: LeBron James, the owner
Is this a retirement gift for Lakers superstar LeBron James? The 41-year-old will almost certainly be part of one of the ownership groups,presumably the one in Las Vegas, where you can catch him on the sidelines of an event on multiple occasions each year.
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It will be pretty cool to keep one of the all-time greats involved in the game, even after he ends his playing career, assuming he ever ends his playing career. James,who has amassed a fortune in excess of $1 billion, has earned his right to reinvest in the NBA.
What an investment it would be. Prices for teams have skyrocketed. Michael Jordan paid $275 million for the Charlotte Hornets in 2010 and sold his majority stake at a $3 billion valuation in 2023. Last year, two of the NBA's signature franchises — the Lakers and Boston Celtics — respectively sold for increasing records of $7.3 and $10 billion.
And they show no sign of slowing down. The league signed an 11-year, $76 billion media rights deal, which began this season. Who is to say what franchises will fetch in 2036, as sports remain one of few live events to draw fans to arenas and viewers to devices.
Con: LeBron James, the owner
Then again, Jordan was a terrible steward of the Hornets. He rarely spent on his team, and they performed like it, making the playoffs just twice — a pair of first-round exits — in more than a decade with him at the helm. It is probably no coincidence that their ascent as an organization has occurred in the immediate aftermath of Jordan's exit.
If his playing career was any indication, can you imagine the passive-aggressiveness with which James will post on social media about his own team — a team that he built.
Remember: It was James who wanted his Miami Heat to draft Shabazz Napier. And it was James who wanted his Cleveland Cavaliers to sign a 32-year-old Deron Williams.
But it was also James who wanted to join forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh and made it happen. It was James who coordinated his partnership with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love in Cleveland, and with Anthony Davis in L.A. All yielded championships.
Then again, that was James, the player, not James, the owner. He had his own great performance to rely on when he played. It does not appear Bronny is ready to shoulder that load. Could make for an interesting general manager selection, though.
Pro: New team names!
Seattle will be the SuperSonics, I presume, which is awesome, especially if they bring back their skyline uniforms. What will Las Vegas be? They have the WNBA's Aces and NHL's Golden Knights. Las Vegas Raiders does not have as nice a ring to it in the NFL.
They could be the Sharps, or High Rollers. Name them after the local newspaper, the Las Vegas Review. Or the Cabaret. Or just Dice. The Las Vegas Strip? I'm spitballing.
It's fun to come up with a team name, and to laugh at the terrible ones that could live forever — like naming Toronto's team after a character from "Jurassic Park" — until you are the one who actually must come up with a name. It's a lot of pressure for a team.
We could get a terrible team name. We could get a great one. Either way, we win.
Con: The rich get richer
Can you imagine being in a conference room for the board of governors meeting?
"Should we create two teams out of thin air and sell them for a total of $20 billion?"
"That's $667 million apiece!"
"But … but our share of$15 billionin annual revenue goes from 1/30th to 1/32nd!"
"Hmmm, that's only $469 million every year instead of $500 million. Bummer."
"Well, I guess my new $667 million check will help. Thanks for making up some teams!"
Meanwhile, the average customer is struggling to bring their family of four to a game. Welcome to the world of big business, Seattle SuperSonics and the Las Vegas Fear and Loathing. It is ruthless out there. Wizards and Magic and Pelicans are awaiting.