The NBA could become a 32-team league as soon as the 2028-29 season.
Shams Charania of ESPN reported Monday that the league will hold a vote at next week’s board of governors meetings on the possible addition of two franchises, exclusively in Las Vegas and Seattle.
“There is momentum for stakeholders to approve surveying what industry executives project will be bids in the $7-to-$10 billion range for each team,” added Charania.
Las Vegas has never been a home to an NBA franchise, though the NFL, NHL and the WNBA have already established franchises in Sin City. Meanwhile, MLB is expected to have a team in Las Vegas by 2028.
Perhaps more compelling is the possibility that Seattle could have an NBA team again.
The city used to be home to the Seattle SuperSonics, whose franchise relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008 and became the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The SuperSonics won an NBA title in 1979, and it wasn’t until 2025 that the Thunder, carrying Seattle’s lineage, won the Larry O’Brien Trophy again.
Even after nearly two decades since the demise of the SuperSonics’ identity, the clamor for the return of an NBA franchise to Seattle has never wavered among basketball fans, and that interest should only get more intense following this latest update on the league’s expansion plans.
