NBA Las Vegas Rumors Intensify, as League Considers First Expansion Since 2004 Season

NBA Las Vegas expansion gossip has been churned out by the rumor mill for many months, but the latest rumblings suggest a major league announcement is imminent.

NBA Las Vegas basketball odds Seattle expansion
NBA Las Vegas basketball odds Seattle expansion
The Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Lakers play a pre-season NBA game on October 13, 2016, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. NBA rumors regarding an expansion team coming to Las Vegas continue to intensify. (Image: Getty)

Willie Ramirez, a veteran sports writer who covers Las Vegas for the Associated Press, said on Twitter this morning that Las Vegas and Seattle appear likely to receive NBA expansion teams.

Citing “multiple sources,” Ramirez says the NBA is expected to announce two new expansion teams around the Los Angeles Clippers’ two preseason games at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena scheduled for September 30 and October 3. The Los Angeles Lakers are slated to play two preseason games in Las Vegas at T-Mobile Arena on October 5 and 6.

Rumors about Southern Nevada gaining a potential NBA team in Las Vegas have been swirling nearly since the US Supreme Court in May 2018 tossed out the federal sports betting ban that had limited full-scale sports gambling to Nevada. The NBA, along with the NFL, MLB, NHL, and NCAA, had fought against the sports betting repeal on claims that widespread regulated gambling on sports could jeopardize the integrity of the leagues’ games.

Sports City

Las Vegas has a laundry list of monikers and slogans, one notable being Sin City. But Las Vegas today is as much about sports as it is about gambling and other vices.

After being shunned by the major pro sports leagues for decades, Las Vegas is now home to the NFL Raiders, NHL Golden Knights, and WNBA Aces. With more than 150,000 hotel rooms and the eighth-busiest airport in the nation, Las Vegas is a most ideal destination for major events and sports.

Ramirez’s report, however, still comes as a bit of a surprise. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said just in June that fans shouldn’t expect the league to announce expansion plans anytime soon.

That talk is not true. We are not discussing [expansion] at this time. At some point this league will invariably expand. Just not at this moment,” Silver said ahead of the 2022 NBA Finals.

The NBA league expansion speculation comes the morning after the Las Vegas Aces and Seattle Storm wrapped up their best-of-five WBNA Semifinals matchup. The Aces won 97-92 to eliminate the Storm in four games.

The Aces advance to the WBNA Finals where they’ll play the winner of the Connecticut Sun and Chicago Sky series. That series is tied 2-2. Game 5 is tomorrow night at 8:00 pm EST.

First Expansion in Nearly Two Decades

If the NBA opts to expand with new teams in Las Vegas and Seattle, it will mark the first time that the pro basketball league has expanded since 2004. It was 18 years ago that the NBA last expanded with the Charlotte Bobcats (now Hornets).

While Las Vegas would be an entirely new market for the NBA, Seattle has a storied past with pro hoops. The SuperSonics called Seattle home from 1967 until 2008 when the franchise was relocated to Oklahoma City.

The Sonics won just one NBA title (1979) during the team’s 41 seasons of play.

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