With the NBA Finals tipping off in San Antonio, Texas, the league’s commissioner, Adam Silver, was on site to watch the Spurs battle the New York Knicks in the first game of the seven-game series.
Both teams have different makeups and paths to success, with one being a young, emerging talent and the other an older, more experienced team featuring veteran stars. They have both won championships in their franchises’ histories, with the Spurs capturing five and the Knicks winning two.
And as they look to be powerhouses in the NBA beyond this Finals matchup, the league will likely expand. While speaking with reporters ahead of Game 1, Silver also shared an important update regarding the league’s move to add one or more expansion teams in the near future.
“Discussions are ongoing. I think everyone knows at this point we’re focused on Las Vegas and Seattle … It’s not a foregone conclusion that we will expand either in one city or both cities. But what we’ve told all interested parties is our anticipation that our board will make a decision by the end of this calendar year,” Silver said at his press conference.
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Silver, who officially assumed the role of commissioner in 2014, has watched one expansion team claim a championship since then. Kawhi Leonard helped lead the Toronto Raptors to their first-ever championship in 2019.
Some might consider the Oklahoma City Thunder an expansion team, but they were formerly the Seattle Supersonics, and moved to Oklahoma City. Some fans believe that it would only be fitting to see the former team return to Seattle.
Among the Supersonics’ memorable stars were players like Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton, Detlef Schrempf, Jack Sikma, Ray Allen, and Kevin Durant, briefly, before they became the Thunder.
Meanwhile, Las Vegas has never had an NBA expansion team, but adding a squad there would make plenty of sense. They’ve already seen the Raiders move from Oakland to Las Vegas, and also have a highly successful WNBA team, the Aces, led by superstar A’Ja Wilson.
Expansion teams typically have rough beginnings in the league and draw criticism until they add better players and start to improve. Still, adding one or more teams to the current NBA landscape would also increase league revenue, as fans pay to watch the top superstars and teams compete.
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