The NBA’s Board of Governors has approved a vote for the league to explore bids and applicants for expansion teams exclusively in Las Vegas and Seattle, sources tell ESPN.
A bidding process is expected to generate offers in the $7 billion to 10 billion range for each team.
There are two known groups with interest in landing an NBA expansion team Las Vegas, one lead by NBA hall of famer and business mogul Earvin “Magic” Johnson and the other fronted by Golden Knights owner Bill Foley.
NBA superstar LeBron James had initially expressed interest in being part of a Las Vegas NBA team’s ownership group, but he recently said he was no longer interested in that. James is a minority owner in Fenway Sports Group, who own multiple sports entities, including the Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Penguins and Liverpool FC.
Johnson’s group, the MAGI, met with Gov. Joe Lombardo last month to discuss NBA expansion. The group is interested in owning a team and potentially an arena/hotel-casino project, or partnering with another group on an arena.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
ESPN and The Associated Press contributed to this report.