The NBA is moving toward a vote at next week’s Board of Governors meeting to formally explore expansion teams in Seattle and Las Vegas. If approved, both franchises could begin play as early as the 2028-29 season. Front Office Sports reporter Alex Schiffer has been deep in the Seattle reporting and he has details that go well beyond the headlines. There is already an NBA locker room nameplate inside Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.
The expansion fee being discussed is $7 billion, which would make these two of the most valuable franchises in the league on day one. And the ownership picture in Seattle is already taking shape with names connected to the Kraken already being floated. Vegas is more complicated. Multiple arenas exist but the question of which one a new NBA team calls home, and for how long, is not settled. Conference realignment is now a real conversation.
And with NBA Europe also on Adam Silver’s agenda, the league is about to go through its biggest structural moment in decades.
