In 2021, when NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was asked about a possible NBA expansion, he surprised everyone when he replied to the same question he’s been asked numerous times, by giving a different response than the usual ‘this is something the league isn’t really considering at this moment’:
“I think I’ve always said that it’s sort of the manifest destiny of the league that you expand at some point. I’d say it’s caused us to maybe dust off some of the analyses on the economic and competitive impacts of expansion. We’ve been putting a little bit more time into it than we were pre-pandemic.”
While Silver also stated that this wasn’t a top priority at this time, it does give hope to millions of people hoping their hometown might get an NBA franchise at some point in the next few years, most and foremost the people of Seattle and Las Vegas, who were always seen as the front-runners in a potential expansion.
Ever since then the plot has thickened, and everybody was under the impression that Vegas and Seattle will indeed be NBA cities (in Seattle’s case, again), when the new TV contracts are signed and completed.
Silver now gave an exciting update on the looming expansion in an interview during the Boston Celtics-New York Knicks game on Monday.
The Commissioner told Brian Scalabrine and Mike Gorman on that the NBA will indeed expand once the new television contracts are completed. Additionally to the big U.S markets, he also added some potential names to the list of possible expansion cities, and their equally as intriguing as they are International.
“Mexico City is easy in terms of, I mean it’s high altitude, it’s 2,000 feet higher than Denver, so that affects the players a bit, but it’s a shorter flight to Mexico City from New York than it is to LA, so…One day, I think that would be incredible to actually expand to a market like Mexico City,”
In the interview, Silver also mentioned Canadian cities Vancouver and Montreal as possible locations.
On the Celtics-Knicks broadcast, Adam Silver once again all but confirmed the NBA will expand after the new TV deal is done.
Silver talked about a “couple of cities in the US”, but mentioned Mexico City and Vancouver, and possibly Montreal (who he said has reached out to the…
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) November 14, 2023
