NEW YORK — Another NBA meeting, another time when discussions of expansion have received a swift brush aside from the league’s owners.
The wait on substantive action surrounding expansion continues. The wait on the possible return of the SuperSonics goes on.
“No new developments,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Thursday following conclusion of the league’s Board of Governors meeting.
It’s news that will draw even more groans and frustration from hoops fans in the Puget Sound region who have desperately sought the slightest breadcrumbs that the league was finally ready to move forward after clearing some significant issues in recent weeks and months.
Just like the NBA All-Star weekend last month where expansion conversation was mostly nonexistent, the league is choosing to keep the talk of expansion on the back burner for now.
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Silver continued to be highly complimentary of Seattle as a potential market in the future but chose not to put a timeline on when the league intends to move ahead on substantive talks of adding a 31st or 32nd team.
There was optimism that tangible news could come from this owners’ meeting following news last week that an agreement was reached on the sale of the Boston Celtics for $6.1 billion. The sale of the Celtics was viewed as one of the final hurdles for the league to clear before substantive conversation and examination of expansion would begin.
Instead, the focus of this meeting ended up being a different kind of expansion — the league receiving approval to start exploring partnerships for an NBA branded league in Europe and growing the international footprint of the league. It makes sense with the global growth of basketball and may someday create a pathway for European based teams to join the NBA.
But it does nothing to satisfy the desire of those domestically who want to see the league grow beyond 30 teams and in particular see the return of a city with 41 years of pro basketball history to the NBA footprint.
The earliest there is likely to be any expansion movement would be this summer and only if the Board of Governors chooses to meet as it did last year during NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. Otherwise, it could be September before any action is taken on starting the expansion process and if so would seemingly ensure the 2028-29 season would be the earliest target date for the addition of teams.
This story will be updated.
Tim Booth: Tim Booth covers the Kraken and other sports for The Seattle Times. Email him at tbooth@seattletimes.com. On Twitter: @ByTimBooth.