Las Vegas is the unquestioned belle of the ball right now. Sin City just hosted its first Super Bowl, months after hosting the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament.
The Las Vegas Aces are fresh off back-to-back WNBA titles and the city already hosts the NBA’s summer league annually. It also doesn’t hurt that LeBron James, the face of the NBA, has openly said he’d like to own the expansion team in Las Vegas, whenever that day arrives.
And now, NBA commissioner Adam Silver is circling back and making it clear Las Vegas is “definitely on our list” for an expansion team. That likely won’t happen until after 2025, when the NBA’s nine-year, $24 billion media right’s deal expires and a new deal is complete.
Then, and only then, will the NBA consider adding to the 30 teams that already make up the league.
“We want to figure out what our media relationships are going to look like, but then we will turn to expansion,” Silver said in an interview on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” on Wednesady.
Seattle, Nashville, Vancouver, Montreal and Mexico City have all been floated as potential expansion cities. Regarding Mexico City, specifically, Silver told NBA.com that even though bringing a team there is “probably not going to happen in the next wave of expansion,” Silver reassured that Mexico City is “on our radar.”
NBA All-Star Weekend kicks off later this week, and Silver will speak Saturday at his annual news conference.
Source Agencies
