NBA Commissioner Adam Silver gave his annual state of the league press conference ahead of Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday evening.
As the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors do battle to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy, there’s been talks that two more teams could join the NBA after the 2023-24 season.
While Silver himself shot that down, he did say that the Association will expand at some point.
“We are not discussing that at this time. At some point, we will expand,” Silver told reporters.
The particular question brought up Seattle and Las Vegas as potential expansion cities. Both have been talked about on a never-ending loop in recent years.
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Adam Silver concerned about ‘dilution of talent’ if NBA were to expand
While indicating that there’s currently no talks to expand, Silver raised a pretty big point. He’s concerned that adding two teams would create a talent issue in the NBA.
The NBA last expanded back in 2004 with the inception of the then-Charlotte Bobcats. Prior to that, the Toronto Raptors and then-Vancouver Grizzlies were brought into the league back in 1995. There were no real issues as it relates to diluted talent.
As for potential expansion cities, Las Vegas has become a major boom town when it comes to professional sports. That includes the NHL’s Golden Knights and the NFL’s Raiders relocating from Northern California. There’s also talk that the MLB’s Oakland Athletics could be headed to Vegas.
When the then-Seattle SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City and rebranded as the Thunder following the 2007-08 season, it threw the NBA world for a loop. It would not be a surprise if Adam Silver and Co. also pushed for an expansion team in Seattle once the league expands.