Is the NBA ready to expand? According to ESPN’s Marc J. Spears, it’s a decision that could be made as soon as this offseason.
On NBA Today, Spears said that a “high-level person in the NBA” said the league is “leaning towards perhaps expansion coming soon, this summer.”
“But it’s not a no-brainer,” Spears added. “When the owners come in, all the numbers are gonna come in with them. The league’s doing good. They’re about to do the Europe thing. They’re making money with NBA Africa, which had better attendance. China, they’re making a bunch of money in China.”
Marc Spears: “I talked to a high-level person in the NBA today and they said it’s leaning towards perhaps expansion coming soon this summer, but it’s not a no brainer” pic.twitter.com/TVyN6bcVjn
— Oh No He Didn’t (@ohnohedidnt24) June 19, 2025
So, what would the potential holdup be? As is so often the case, money. If the league expands from 30 to 32 teams, the share that the current owners get would naturally decrease.
“So when you look at it, all these owners look at it, do you want to share a piece of the pie now? It’s like dominoes. Is all money good money? So they’ll sit back and look at it. Because what it comes to, you go from 1/30th to 1/32nd long term. So you’re cutting more of a piece of the pie. So yeah, there’s an expectation, probably about $6 billion for whatever that team comes in. But long term, is that worth the squeeze for expansion and the teams,” he said.
The NBA’s new $76 billion media rights deal is set to begin in the 2025-26 season.
Of course, even if expansion is agreed to, it would still likely be at least a couple of years before the new teams took the court for the first time. An ESPN article from September 2024 said, “league sources and people who are working on forming bidding groups — are targeting the 2027-28 season. Although starting in 2026-27 isn’t impossible, it has become more unrealistic.”
The NBA’s most recent expansion came in the 2004-05 season when the Charlotte Bobcats (now known as the Charlotte Hornets) were added. That came two years after the franchise now known as the New Orleans Pelicans left Charlotte.
Seattle and Las Vegas have been the most-discussed cities for potential NBA expansion.