Adam Silver says NBA expansion decision will be made in 2026

It has been more than two decades since an expansion franchise was awarded in the NBA, and commissioner Adam Silver says that a decision will be made next season on whether the league will end up at 32 teams.

Silver laid out the league’s possible expansion plans at a press conference before the NBA Cup final on Tuesday, Dec. 16, and the league could be looking to add its first new teams, since the Charlotte Bobcats became the 30th franchise in 2004.

‘I’d say in terms of domestic expansion, that is something we’re continuing to look at,’ Silver said. ‘It’s not a secret we’re looking at this market in Las Vegas. We are looking at Seattle. We’ve looked at other markets, as well. I’d say I want to be sensitive there about this notion that we’re somehow teasing these markets, because I know we’ve been talking about it for a while.

‘As I’ve said before, domestic expansion, as opposed to doing a new league in Europe, is selling equity in this current league. If you own 1/30 of this league, now you own 1/32 if you add two teams. So it’s a much more difficult economic analysis. In many ways, it requires predicting the future.’

Seattle and Las Vegas have long been considered the favorites to get teams should the league expand. Seattle has been without a team since the SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City before the 2008-09 season, and Vegas has hosted a portion of the Summer League since 2004 and all three years of the NBA Cup finals. Silver says he is confident that Las Vegas could support an NBA team.

‘I think Seattle and Las Vegas are two incredible cities,’ Silver said. ‘Obviously we had a team in Seattle that had great success. We have a WNBA team here in Las Vegas in the Aces. We’ve been playing the summer league here for 20 years. We’re playing our Cup games here, so we’re very familiar with this market.’