During the All-Star Game a year ago, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was never asked about the possibility of domestic expansion. On Saturday, it was the second question posed to the head of the league.
There’s no question momentum continues to build behind the idea of expansion.
Silver said on Saturday that the league expects some significant discussion to happen around expansion during the upcoming Board of Governors meeting scheduled for late March. Silver said there is not going to be a vote around expansion at the March meeting but that the hope is a framework for moving forward on the topic will come from it.
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Silver said the goal coming out of the meeting next month will be to go “out into the marketplace” and get an idea of which ownership groups might be interested in bringing an expansion team to their respective cities.
“But we will likely be coming out of those meetings ready, prepared to take a next step in terms of potentially talking to interested parties,” Silver said. “No it doesn’t have to be a two-team expansion. Frankly it doesn’t have to be any number of teams. I think the logical next move would be to say, ‘All right, we’ve had those discussions, internally, we’ve made decisions, about cities to focus on and what the opportunity is and now we’ve got to go out into the marketplace,’ and I think that’s the most important step to find out who is potentially interested in owning a franchise in particular cities, what’s the value of that franchise. There’s some work to do in terms of potential conference realignment. So that’s the next step there.”
Silver made the comments during his annual availability at All-Star weekend, taking place at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. And he continued to acknowledge that most of the discussion on expansion has been centered on Seattle and Las Vegas.
“I think in fairness to the cities — Seattle and Las Vegas, in particular — I have been very clear. I don’t want to tease teams. I don’t want to tease cities or mislead anyone,” Silver said.
Silver’s comments came nearly two months after he kicked the expansion conversation back into overdrive by stating that the league planned to decide on whether or not it will add teams to its portfolio sometime in 2026.
It also came after a week where there was continued national speculation that expansion was on the horizon for the league — whether it was reports of a planned vote this summer or simply building momentum toward a resolution.
Kraken majority owner Samantha Holloway has said repeatedly their ownership group would look into the possibility of helping bring the NBA back to the city should the league chose to expand with the expectation the team would play at Climate Pledge Arena.
Silver also noted in his comments that the idea of relocation is “not on the table” right now, which for the moment may be a brief bit of relief for fans in Portland. The pending sale of the Trail Blazers from the Allen family trust to a group led by Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon and worries about the long-term viability of the Moda Center have left fans in Portland a bit on edge.
Silver’s expectation of what should come out of the BOG meeting in March certainly heightens what could happen between then and the annual owners’ meetings that take place in July in Las Vegas during NBA Summer League. If the league is truly ready to start having serious talks with interested groups sometime this spring, information like the expansion fee and a timeline for when any of these teams would start playing should come to the forefront before a potential vote.
While it sounded like expansion is moving ahead based on Silver’s comments, it will remain an ‘if’ until there is tangible action. On his podcast this week, Bill Simmons noted that there remained a coalition of owners who were still against the idea of adding teams. The league also has additional concerns around teams tanking for draft position — which took up a significant chunk of Silver’s comments on Saturday — and the pending launch of an NBA-branded league in Europe, which the league hopes to start in the fall of 2027.
It’s a lot for the league to juggle at once. But Saturday also felt like positive news for those longing at the chance to see the SuperSonics once again.
Tim Booth: Tim Booth is a sports reporter at The Seattle Times, where he covers the Kraken and the ongoing story surrounding possible NBA expansion and helps with coverage of the Seahawks and Mariners.