The expansion of the NBA with two new franchises in Las Vegas and Seattle is getting very close. Rumours about new teams opening up in those two cities have run for a while, and according to ESPN‘s Shams Charania, the NBA will hold a vote at the board of governors meetings next week to explore adding expansion teams in Las Vegas and Seattle.
“There is momentum within the board of governors and the league”, says Charania, so all should go well for the approval of these two teams in Las Vegas and Seattle, which would join the league in the 2028/29 if all goas well. The early estimates say that both markets would be among the NBA’s top eight revenue generators due to the market appeal of both cities.
It would be the NBA’s first expansion since 2004, with the introduction of the Charlotte Bobcats, now Hornets.
However, the final vote would be at the end of the year, where at least 23 of the 30 governors of the current teams must vote in favour of the creation of the new teams.
It would mark the first NBA team in Seattle since 2008, when the Seattle SuperSonics rellocated to Oklahoma City, transformed into the winning-team Thunder. Las Vegas never had a NBA team, but they do have one of the most successful WNBA teams, Las Vegas Aces, champions in 2022, 2023 and 2025.
