The NBA once again made it known that they are a highly sought after commodity across the globe. This past week the league played a game across the pond in London, England and a pair of contests in Mexico City with the Phoenix Suns being the home team. So with the return of games in foreign lands, so come the intrigue about bringing a team to some new cities. Or cities that once had a franchise.
Adam Silver was recently speaking to the media ahead of the second game in Mexico City over the weekend. He did say the NBA is looking at expansion possibilities, including heading to Mexico City. But he did state that a mid-season tournament of sorts would be much easier than bringing a whole team across the border. Fans came out in huge numbers to support the NBA for the two contests.
So how realistic is it that expansion will be coming? Well, it appears there is talk about a pair of cities getting a team, pending various complications.
Following is courtesy of Adam Joseph, and Keith Smith of 16 Wins a Ring.
Sources have told 16 Wins a Ring that expansion is being talked about more seriously at this point than at any other time recently. The league’s first priority was to complete the CBA, but with the game in such a healthy place monetarily, and the talent level higher than it ever has been, expansion is now the focus of the league office.
The earliest the league would expand is for the 2018–19 season, but that 2019–20 is more likely according to sources.The front running cities in talks are Seattle and Mexico City, with Louisville still very much in the picture. The former NBA city of Seattle has always been on the NBA’s radar, with Adam Silver determined to fix the error of letting the city lose its franchise.
League sources say Silver has said privately that Seattle is a lock for one of the spots, unless the city itself can’t sort its arena issues. Silver has been frustrated by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray’s ducking of his calls and meeting requests.
A source divulged that Adam Silver and the league have attempted to contact the city of Seattle on multiple occasions with no call backs. The league has wanted to help push their arena efforts forward, but the city has seemingly not appeared fully invested. In the one face-to-face meeting that Seattle Mayor Ed Murray had with Adam Silver (two years ago), he was surprisingly unprepared for the basic questions that the league had asked him to prepare for and was more interested in talking about the NHL. Until recently, the city has appeared apprehensive to the league’s approaches.
The NBA’s expansion talk has increased from a rumbling to a roar over the last year in particular. Especially with the city of Seattle increasing their efforts to bring a team back to town. The main issue mostly has been some political hiccups.
Kevin Nesgoda of Sonics Rising has also heard similar sentiments about the league’s expansion of two teams with Seattle being at the forefront.
Realistically, the possibilities of a team returning to Seattle solely rest in the hands of the city’s politicians. There’s no reason the NBA would not want to expand to Seattle and bring a team back there. As far as another squad, that’s where it becomes a little tricky.
Louisville is a basketball city without a doubt. The in-state college basketball rivalry between the Kentucky Wildcats and Louisville Cardinals highlights the love Kentucky has for the sport. But is it enough to sustain a new franchise? That’s going to be a big question, especially considering larger markets like Mexico City, Las Vegas or even Vancouver. The passion is there in Louisville, but is the money?
It’s a situation that has no actual resolution in sight, but as Joseph and Smith point out, with the hurdle of completing a new CBA finalized, the NBA has some time to focus their efforts on bringing a viable product to more audiences.
