After years of speculation and rumors, the NBA finally confirmed this week that it will do more than simply explore expansion—it will soon be taking bids on adding two new teams.
The last expansion came in 2004 with the Charlotte Bobcats, now the Hornets, giving the league 30 teams.
The two cities most often mentioned in discussions about making the NBA a 32-team league are Las Vegas and Seattle, and the Board of Governors has authorized the league to explore potential teams for them. But that’s no guarantee, so expect the NBA to do its due diligence on other potential locations. These are the top candidates outside of Seattle and Las Vegas:
Louisville, Kentucky
On one hand, you could count the states in which basketball exceeds football in terms of local interest. Indiana and North Carolina are a couple of them, and they already have NBA franchises, while Kentucky is another. The state has never had an NBA team, though it did have one of the most successful ABA franchises of all-time in the Kentucky Colonels, who made that league’s playoffs a record nine times.
The Colonels were located in Louisville, so it’s only natural that the NBA would consider that city again if it were to seriously look at the Bluegrass State. Kentucky has no major pro sports teams, so a potential Louisville NBA squad would get all of the local attention, that is when it’s not Kentucky Derby season in early May.
Vancouver, Canada
When the NBA last expanded with two teams at the same time, the league headed north of the border by adding the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies for the 1995-96 season. Toronto survived, and thrived, thanks to the likes of Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady, while Vancouver failed. The team relocated to Memphis after just six seasons in Canada.
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Virginia is the 12th-most populous state in the country, but it is the most populous state without a pro sports team. Yes, there are nearby teams in Washington and Baltimore, as well as in North Carolina, but Old Dominion doesn’t have one to call its own. Virginia Beach is the largest city in the state, with a population similar to Miami’s, so it’s certainly large enough to house a pro squad.
With college basketball programs such as the Virginia Cavaliers and VCU Rams, the state has strong amateur roots, including at the high school level. Oak Hill Academy is a national powerhouse that’s won seven high school national championships and has produced more NBA players than any other high school, including Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony.
St. Louis
Before the Hawks moved to Atlanta, they resided in St. Louis during the Bob Pettit era. They were highly successful, making the playoffs in 12 of 13 seasons in St. Louis, including winning the franchise’s only NBA championship (1958). So why did they leave The STL? It wasn’t due to attendance problems but rather because of the owner’s dispute with the city over the team’s home arena, which led to him selling the Hawks to an Atlanta businessman.
St. Louisans still have an affinity for basketball, and there’s a sports void in the city following the departure of the NFL’s Rams to Los Angeles. A bonus in St. Louis getting its second chance at an NBA franchise is the location of the city—it’s in the middle of the country, making it a convenient destination for traveling teams, and St. Louis could fit into either the Eastern Conference or Western Conference.
Mexico City
The NBA has played 15 regular-season games in Mexico City—the most of any foreign city. Why not replace those semi-annual trips to North America’s most populous city with housing an NBA team there? The city has a G-League team, the Mexico City Capitanes, and the league has NBA Academy Latin America there to develop prospects. And NBA players are already used to navigating customs from making trips to Toronto.
A bonus in picking Mexico City is that its existing venue would immediately become one of the best in the league. Mexico City Arena is ideally located, easily accessible by public transportation, and with a capacity of over 22,000, it is larger than every current NBA arena.