When is the NBA reportedly announcing new expansion teams in Las Vegas and Seattle?
There have long been rumors that the NBA is going to expand operations to two cities, and they could be announcing the new teams very soon.
NBA fans could be receiving some exciting news very soon- the league is reportedly close to announcing the league’s expansion to Seattle and Las Vegas.
There have long been rumors about plans to have teams in these two cities, and now it seems that this will soon be happening.
A tweet by Willie Ramirez of the Associated Press said that according to multiple sources, the NBA wants to announce the expansion to Seattle and Las Vegas at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena, home to the WNBA’s Seattle storm and the NHL’s Seattle Kraken, during the Los Angeles Clippers’ preseason games at the stadium in late September or early October.
However, the tweet can no longer be found on Ramirez’s page.
Basketball fans will be waiting to find out if the league will indeed announce the development, which would bring the total number of teams to 32.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, while denying earlier this year that an expansion would happen anytime soon, did admit that it was an inevitability.
“As I’ve said before, at some point, this league will invariably expand, just not at this moment,” Silver had said.
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A potential division and conference shift
An expansion would change the landscape of the NBA’s conferences and divisions. Given where the cities are located on the map, it would make the most sense for them to end up in the Western Conference.
If Ramirez’s report does pan out eventually, Seattle would be able to recover from losing the Sonics to Oklahoma City in 2008, while Las Vegas would finally get a chance to become home to an NBA team.