Expansion has come up a lot around the NBA in recent months. It sure looks like both Las Vegas and Seattle will soon get expansion teams.
Speaking ahead of Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday, Commissioner Adam Silver seemingly broke some news.
Silver told media that the NBA is looking to expand beyond the United States and Canada.
“It’s not preordained that we will expand at this time, but I know there’s an enormous amount of interest out there,” Silver said on Thursday. At some point, we’d like to look outside the United States. In addition to Canada. This may not be the right moment to do that, but I’m thinking long term as well.”
It’s not yet known where the Association has its eyes set on. Mexico could very well be an option. If we’re looking overseas, the United Kingdom, France and Spain could be options.
However, this could also become a logistical nightmare. During an 82-game regular season, teams having to travel overseas would be an issue. As for the potential expansion team, having to play 41 games in North America would also be a logistical nightmare.
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With that said, Silver has talked multiple times about Mexico City as a possibility.
“Mexico City is easy in terms of, I mean it’s high altitude, it’s 2,000 feet higher than Denver, so that affects the players a bit, but it’s a shorter flight to Mexico City from New York than it is to LA. One day, I think that would be incredible to actually expand to a market like Mexico City,” Silver said back in November.
For now, it seems as if Las Vegas and Seattle are going to come first. When that happens is anyone’s best guess.