NBA expansion progress remains slow going
OKLAHOMA CITY — With the Finals starting in Oklahoma City (where the Seattle SuperSonics relocated to in 2008), NBA expansion is noteworthy topic, especially with Seattle, Las Vegas and other markets trying to land an NBA team if and when expansion becomes a reality.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver addressed the topic before Game 1.
“The current sense is we should be exploring it,” Silver said. “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. 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, I think markets that deserve to have NBA teams. Probably even if we were to expand, more than we can serve.
“We have an owners’ meeting in July in Las Vegas. It will be on the agenda to take the temperature of the room. 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.”
The projected price of an expansion team continues to rise — nearing about $5 billion per team. The Boston Celtics will sell for at least $6.1 billion.
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