We have seen the NBA expand a few times during its history, and expansion has helped the league to grow into what it is today. There are currently 30 teams in the league, with a few of those being added via expansion such as the Toronto Raptors.
There have been rumors about the NBA potentially expanding once again in the future. Some reports have suggested that those expansion teams would likely be located in Seattle and Las Vegas.
Recently, Bill Simmons has recently given an update on the topic of expansion. He claimed that he has “intel” that the NBA will in fact be expanding to Las Vegas and Seattle, and added that LeBron James will be “involved” with the ownership group of the team in Las Vegas.
.@ringer founder @BillSimmons says he has "intel" that the NBA will expand to Las Vegas, and that LeBron James "is definitely going to be involved" in the ownership group. https://t.co/K4bDk1rSwe pic.twitter.com/ivSM9fPoPe
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) February 28, 2022
I have some intel. I think the league is gonna expand to Vegas and to Seattle. I think the leading contender to get that Vegas team is that Fenway Sports Group… They’ve been circling different NBA teams for a while. I think they looked at Minnesota, and I think they’re the leading contender to Vegas.
If I had to bet on a LeBron scenario, it would be for him to be involved with whatever happens with that. Where he is the point man of that Vegas team… I think that is scenario A for LeBron. He wants to be an owner, I think he wants to run one of these teams.
Conversely, I think the NBA is looking at this going we can add these huge expansion things. I heard combined, we’re talking $6.5, 7.0 billion for the two teams.
There is no doubt that it will be exciting to see some new franchises in the league. For a lot of older fans, it will be amazing to potentially see the Seattle SuperSonics back in the league. There have even been players who have previously stated their support of the Seattle SuperSonics making a return.
Of course, expansion isn’t a one-day process, and it’ll probably take a while for us to actually see the league expand. However, this segment from Bill Simmons suggests that expansion will eventually happen, and it’s just a matter of time.
