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Editor’s note: This is a weekly feature wrapping up news and developments in the NBA’s potential expansion to Las Vegas and Seattle by the 2028-29 season.
Then there were two.
The NBA expansion bid group led by former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry and Canadian billionaire Steve Apostolopoulos has dropped out of the running to land a Las Vegas franchise, the Sports Business Journal reported Friday.
The group, which had bid between $9 billion and $9.5 billion, pulled out of the race as the price climbed to $10 billion during the process, according to the Sports Business Journal.
That leaves the group led by Walmart heiress Nancy Walton Laurie, her husband, Bill Laurie, and Raiders minority owner and Silver Lake co-CEO Egon Durban. The Walton-Laurie group is considered the heavy favorite to win the bid.
The other group still in contention includes Golden Knights owner Bill Foley and former Phoenix Suns owner Jerry Colangelo.
The winning bid is expected to be at least $10 billion and include a separate cost of about $2 billion to $3 billion to build a new arena.
Where an NBA arena ultimately would be built depends on which group is awarded the franchise, but the north Strip is viewed as the favorite location. However, the south Strip cannot be ruled out.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said this week that the expansion process is still unfolding, though he did not provide any indication of when a decision on Las Vegas ownership could be finalized.
Speaking Tuesday on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” before the start of the 2026-27 NBA season, Silver noted the professional sports boom taking place in Las Vegas.
“Las Vegas seems to have an insatiable appetite for sports and entertainment,” Silver said. “Several groups now are thinking of even building a brand-new arena in town, which, at least in the presentation, may be the most spectacular arena ever.”
The other city under consideration by the NBA and PJT Partners, the investment bank hired by the league to help oversee the expansion process, is Seattle. Silver highlighted the city’s Climate Pledge Arena and said the league is taking a close look at returning to the market that was home to the SuperSonics.
Silver has previously noted that even though Climate Pledge Arena is relatively new, some upgrades likely would be needed to bring it up to NBA standards.
Additionally, Silver said Mexico City could be a candidate for an expansion team at some point in the future.
Although he did not provide a timeline for when the winning bid groups could be selected, the Review-Journal previously reported that a decision could come by the end of October or in early November. Silver said actual expansion would not occur for a “few seasons.”
That aligns with the possibility of a Las Vegas expansion team beginning play in either the 2028-29 or 2029-30 season. The latter timeline appears more realistic if the plan includes constructing a new arena for the city’s NBA franchise.