The NBA appears to be moving closer toward expansion, and all signs point to Seattle and Las Vegas as the frontrunners for new franchises. Reports suggest the Board of Governors could vote on it this summer, though even if approved, teams would not actually join the league until the 2027-28 season at the earliest.
It’s looking more realistic by the day, but that does not mean everyone’s on board with the plan. Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green recently went on his podcast and laid out his concerns.
He was not shy about it either. Green acknowledged that expansion makes total sense from a business standpoint, but he’s not convinced the league has enough talent right now to fill out two more rosters without hurting the quality of play.
“I must say, expansion for the league from a business perspective is incredible.”
“Earlier in the show, we spoke about tanking, and there’s a third of the teams in the NBA tanking, which means a third of the teams in the NBA absolutely fu**ing sucks. So, I don’t know from a talent and competitive basketball standpoint that expansion is good. Business-wise, incredible. Basketball talent-wise. I don’t think it’s great.”
“You’re gonna spread the talent even more thin, and it’s already pretty thin now, especially with what, guys? The daunted word, second apron, hard cap, especially with that, the talent’s already thin. I don’t know that that’s great for the game.”
“I think these teams will thrive in these places. I just really worry that there’s not enough talent to add 30 more spots. When you look at some of these teams running NBA, you don’t know half the guys’ names who take the NBA floor. I just don’t remember being that way when I was growing up.”
It’s hard to argue with Draymond Green’s logic when you watch some of the bottom-tier teams struggle night after night. That said, expansion could also open doors for more players and grow the game in cities that are hungry for basketball.
Commissioner Adam Silver has been circling this topic for years now. He brought it up publicly before the 2020-21 season and has kept it alive in conversations ever since. Previously, he suggested a decision might come sometime in 2026, and it feels like things are finally gaining traction.
Silver spoke about it again in December and made it clear that Seattle and Las Vegas are the serious contenders. Seattle has deep basketball roots and a fanbase that’s been waiting for the league to return since the SuperSonics left.
Las Vegas, meanwhile, has proven itself as a basketball city. It hosts Summer League every year, the league holds In-Season Tournament games there, and the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces have thrived. Silver said he’s confident Las Vegas could support an NBA team.
The main holdup has been sorting out the financial details and revenue-sharing structure.
If the league does pull the trigger, it will grow to 32 teams. The tricky part is that both Seattle and Las Vegas would almost certainly end up in the Western Conference, which would create an imbalance. To fix that, at least one existing team would need to move to the Eastern Conference so both sides have 16 franchises.
There’s also the matter of the expansion draft. New teams would get to build their rosters by picking from players that existing franchises leave unprotected. The last time the NBA did this was back in 2004, and teams were allowed to protect eight players while exposing at least one who wasn’t set to become an unrestricted free agent.
The fans can expect a similar setup if it happens again.
