Adam Silver Teases Three Potential NBA Expansion Cities

Adam Silver Teases Three Potential NBA Expansion Cities originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston

BOSTON – The Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks outlasted 28 other teams to reach the 2024 NBA Finals. That number could increase in the very near future.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver joined NBC Sports Boston’s Celtics pregame live on Sunday at TD Garden before Game 2 of the NBA Finals and confirmed that the league will look into the possibility of expanding its current 30 teams after finalizing new media rights deals.

“We have to understand what our long-term media relationships are before we look at expansion. We’re in the process of closing those deals now,” Silver told co-hosts Tom Giles, Eddie House and Brian Scalabrine. “These will be long-term agreements. Hopefully we’re not done yet, but they will be successful in terms of generating more money for the league and the teams and then we’ll be in a position to look at expansion.”

The NBA’s current media rights deal expires after the 2024-25 season, and Silver said Thursday that the league expects to finalize new long-term agreements in the “relative short term.” According to the Wall Street Journalthe NBA is “closing” deals with NBC, ESPN and Amazon totaling about $76 billion over the next 11 years.

While Silver has insisted that adding teams to the league is not a given, it would be a natural next step considering the influx of money from potential media rights deals and the fact that two other professional sports leagues – the NFL and the NHL – there are already 32 teams.

“It’s not predestined that we will expand,” Silver said. “I’ve said this before, you have to look at the dilution, potentially, of talent, but there’s a lot of basketball being played around the world. I don’t think there’s any doubt that, over time, this league can sustain two more teams. And there is interest in the market, so as soon as we finish our media deals, we will turn our attention to that.”

So which cities would be in the running to add an expansion team?

“There has been some discussion about moving back to Seattle, potentially,” Silver confirmed. “Las Vegas, without a doubt, is very interested in a team. One day, Mexico City.

“But there are a lot of other cities in the U.S. and Canada, frankly, that have contacted us to tell us they would be interested.”

Seattle and Las Vegas have long been rumored to be the league’s next two expansion cities, while Silver has suggested on several occasions that the NBA is looking to add another international team outside of the Toronto Raptors. The league has played several regular season games in Mexico City in recent seasons, so perhaps this would be the NBA’s next frontier after hosting Seattle and Las Vegas.

Check out Silver’s full interview in the YouTube video below.