The NBA is in no hurry to add teams.
The National Basketball Association has no expansion plans on the table at the moment although NBA Commissioner Adam Silver recently said it is possible that the league could expand in the future. Silver and his owners are dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and that is the major concern. Silver also probably wants to get a new TV deal and a new collective bargaining agreement with the players before thinking of an expansion into one or two North American markets. Seattle does have a good corporate and TV market and someone in that city might be able to come up with the billions of dollars now needed to buy into the NBA. The league apparently wants to take a close look at Mexico City as well. Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman has thrown the city’s hat in the ring as an expansion contender although Mayor Goodman does not think NBA expansion is coming anytime soon. Las Vegas hosts the NBA summer rookie league and the city has a modern arena. The NBA likes Las Vegas a lot.
Other much smaller markets might want to get into the NBA. Louisville is one of those markets. Seattle will have an NBA 21st century state of the art building that will open in 2021. There are many markets such as Kansas City that seem to not have the wealth that is needed to buy into the NBA. Seattle may be the only United States city that fits the need of having government support to get a building approved or in Seattle’s case renovated, a robust TV market and a great corporate base. There may be possible owners in other cities but unless a possible owner wants to make a vanity purchase, the price of buying into the NBA might be too expensive in many markets.
