Adam Silver explains why NBA is taking its time with expansion talks: ‘We’re not quite ready’

Following an NBA Board of Governors meeting on Tuesday in New York, commissioner Adam Silver told reporters that there was “not a lot of discussion” with the board regarding expansion, but not because it doesn’t remain a strong possibility that the league is moving toward adding another franchise or two.

“There was not a lot of discussion in this meeting about expansion, but only largely because — not for lack of interest — it’s because we had said to [potential franchise suitors] that we’re not quite ready,” Silver told reporters. “…It was something that we told our board we plan to address this season. We’re not quite ready yet. There’s interest in the process, and I think that we’re not there yet with having made specific decisions about markets or even frankly, to expand. 

“I think over time organizations should grow as appropriate,” Silver continued. “But it gets complicated in terms of selling equity in the league and what that means for the existing television relationships, et cetera. What we’ve told interested parties is: ‘thank you for your interest, we’ll get back to you.’ That’s certainly the case in Seattle.”

Seattle, which lost the SuperSonics to Oklahoma City in 2008, is one of the leading expansion-candidate cities. Seattle will host a Clippers-Blazers preseason game on Oct. 11, and everyone will be watching. 

 “We’re always paying attention to what’s happening. In other arenas throughout the United States, when we do play games there, we look very closely at the support we get in those markets,” Silver said. “I know we’re going to get tremendous support in that preseason game [in Seattle] again.”

In addition to Seattle, Las Vegas is considered another top candidate for expansion. Silver has also noted Mexico City as a possibility, but that’s probably farther down the road. Two more franchises would get the NBA to 32 teams, equal to the NFL and NHL. 

Silver had previously said expansion would be addressed after the NBA wrapped up its new media deals, but that is now done with the league expected to bring in north of $74 billion over the next 11 years. 

That extra revenue should be able to fuel expansion, but again, Silver and the owners aren’t quite ready to go down that road. The news here is that Silver is saying expansion will be addressed “this season.” So it’s not that far down the road.