As many expected, NBA governors have given the league the green light to formally explore potential expansion in Seattle and Las Vegas.
Seattle has been waiting for a franchise for nearly two decades since the team moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder in 2008. It would be a major surprise if any franchise in Seattle wasn’t named the SuperSonics.
But Las Vegas is a different story. While the league has increased its presence in the city via NBA Summer League and the NBA Cup, an NBA team has never called Sin City home.
If Las Vegas gets an NBA franchise, what should it be called? We asked The Athletic NBA staff for their suggestions, with one instruction: Have some fun. (And if you have a suggestion you want to share, let us know in the comments.)
Las Vegas Jokers
This is the NBA. It is never too soon to start tampering, even if Nikola Jokić will be 33 to start the 2028-29 season, when many expect a new franchise in Las Vegas would begin play. Plus, can you imagine Jokić in Las Vegas? It would either be a delightful odd-couple situation, or he would immediately retire because he doesn’t want to play in what he considers the ultimate North American hedonistic wasteland.
Either way, I’ve decided it needs to happen. — Eric Koreen
Blackjacks of Las Vegas
I have always been a fan of sports teams in a market with some level of synergy with the other teams. Chicago has the Bears and the Cubs. Philadelphia has the Eagles and the 76ers. Houston has the Rockets and the Astros. This has held up in the WNBA/NBA teams as well: Suns and Mercury, Wizards and Mystics, Timberwolves and Lynx. The WNBA has the Aces, and the NHL team has the Knights.
So, in playing the card I’m dealt here, I’m going with Blackjacks of Las Vegas, with the team name preceding the city in the way that the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim debuted. Now I will solicit complaints about how a team name is too closely associated with gambling, while putting a team in Las Vegas. — Law Murray
Las Vegas Sharks
Before the Las Vegas Aces became a WNBA force, basketball excellence in Sin City was defined by the late-great Jerry Tarkanian and at UNLV. He was known by some as “Tark the Shark,” so why not honor the coaching legend? A shark mascot running around with a towel in its mouth would be cool, and I’d definitely buy some Shark merchandise. Going with a gambling name is too easy, even though I wouldn’t be mad at the “Las Vegas Strip” as a name, but there’s probably some legal reason that can’t happen. — Jason Jones
Las Vegas Oasis
Water. Splash. Buckets. Pulling straight from the definition, an oasis is fertile ground where water is found. An NBA team in Las Vegas is bringing in fresh faces and competition in an area with a thirst (haha) for more. And the city itself, like an oasis, is meant to be a place of respite. Also, come on, it just sounds cool as hell. — Shakeia Taylor
Las Vegas Diamonds
It’s elegant, it’s clean, and there’s synergy with the WNBA’s Aces. Maybe Arizona’s MLB team would have something to say about such a similar moniker, but oh well.
I like that Diamonds makes me think of the Vegas of old — not the place that Robert De Niro’s character at the end of “Casino” likened to “checking into an airport.” — Christian Clark
The Vegas, Babies
The comma is doing a lot of very important work here. An ode to “Swings, ”one of the seminal motion pictures of my youth. We’re gonna be up five-hundy by midnight! Vegas, baby. Vegas. — Jon Krawczynski
Las Vegas Dealers
A great team name should be distinctive. It ought to be a name that no one else has. Preferably, it should have some connection to the city or region it represents.
So I don’t want to hear anything about “Sharks.” In a vacuum, that would be a great name for the Vegas expansion team. But the San Jose Sharks already exist; that franchise gets dibs. The Los Angeles Dodgers. The Seattle SuperSonics. The Pittsburgh Steelers. Those work, and they wouldn’t work anywhere else.
And I sure don’t want any more alliteration. We’ve got too much of that in sports already. The Philadelphia Flyers is a great name. The Vegas Vegans? Uh, no.
Being a “Dealer” is a quintessentially Vegas profession. And get your minds out of the gutter, people. I’m talking about dealers for card games at a casino, not something more untoward. — Josh Robbins
Las Vegas Dealers (again)
The NBA isn’t hiding its affinity for gambling, so it should be OK to embrace it without being too specific. I’m a fan of team names being related to the city, and everyone associates Las Vegas with gambling.
“Gamblers” would be perfect, but the headlines would write themselves if a scandal took place. At least with “Dealers,” there’s enough of a subtlety there, and it symbolizes running the show. And it would be cool to say, “Las Vegas is dealing out butt whoopings.” — James L. Edwards III