Speaking during his annual NBA Finals press conference on Thursday night, league commissioner Adam Silver weighed in on the topic of expansion and how he expects it to come up during the board of governors meeting in Las Vegas this July.
“I’d say the current sense is we should be exploring it,” Silver said off a question regarding the current view on expansion. “I don’t think it’s automatic because it depends on your perspective on the future of the league. As I’ve said before, expansion, in a way, is selling equity in the league. And if you believe in the league, you don’t necessarily want to add partners.
“On the other hand, we recognize there are underserved markets in the United States and elsewhere, and I think markets that deserve to have NBA teams. Even if we were to expand, more than we can serve. But we have [an] owners meeting in July in Las Vegas, and it will be on the agenda to take the temperature of the room [regarding expansion]. We have committees that are already talking about it. But my sense is, at that meeting, they’re going to give direction to me and my colleagues at the league office that we should continue to explore it.”
Take a peek at that answer below:
Silver also commented a bit on expanding into Europe, something he has discussed previously, as well.
“What also comes to mind in terms of expansion is the opportunity, potentially, to create other competition around the world,” the commissioner went on. “As you know, five years ago or so, we created a competition of existing clubs in Africa … and we have been discussing potentially creating a league in Europe. And I view that as a form of expansion, as well.”
Silver’s comments on Thursday are in keeping with those he has made before, both as it pertains to expansion within the United States and expansion to Europe. He had also previously said he expected the league to consider expansion during the 2024–25 season, but the sale of the Boston Celtics delayed that conversation.
Of the markets without NBA teams, fans are particularly interested in the potential addition of franchises to Seattle and Las Vegas. Seattle had a team—the Seattle SuperSonics—but they moved to Oklahoma City 17 years ago and rebranded as the Thunder.
All in all, it seems like expansion is still on the table at this point. But we’ll see in July if owners want to take the next step toward making that happen.
