NBA Commissioner Adam Silver officially announced that the league will make a final decision on its domestic expansion sometime in 2026.
During a press conference prior to the NBA Cup final between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs, Silver explained that the process seeks to evaluate the viability of increasing the number of teams from 30 to 32.
The NBA could expand to 32 teams in 2026 Photo:Getty Images via AFP
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Las Vegas and Seattle, the candidates to receive new teams in the NBA
The cities of Las Vegas and Seattle as the priority markets for this growth. The league has focused on two destinations with different strategic profiles. On the one hand, Las Vegas is consolidating itself as a nerve center for professional sports after the recent arrival of the Raiders (NFL) and the consolidation of events such as Formula 1.
According to Silver, economic analyzes indicate that a basketball franchise would be successful in that city despite the growing competition for the entertainment market.
Adam Silver, NBA commissioner Photo:Getty Images via AFP
On the other hand, the project in Seattle focuses on the return of the SuperSonics, a historic franchise that left the city almost 20 years ago to move to Oklahoma City.
Although other markets have been analyzed, these two venues top the list of candidates to join the league in the near future.
The delay in making this decision responds to the financial complexity involved in diluting the participation of the current owners. Silver emphasized that the national expansion represents, in practice, an equity sale of the current organization.
“If you own 1/30 of this league, you now own 1/32 if you add two teams. It is a difficult economic analysis that requires predicting the future,” the commissioner explained.
The NBA could expand to 32 teams in 2026 Photo:Getty Images via AFP
This evaluation process includes determining whether the revenue generated by the new markets will offset the percentage reduction in profits for the 30 existing owners, ensuring the long-term sustainability of the competition.
The last expansion of the NBA was in 2004
The NBA has not added new teams since 2004, when the Charlotte Bobcats joined, two years after that city’s original franchise, the Hornets, moved to New Orleans.
Previously, the most significant international growth occurred in 1995 with the arrival of the Toronto Raptors and the Vancouver Grizzlies to Canada.
Of the latter, only the Raptors remain in their original home, since the Grizzlies moved to Memphis in 2001.
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This content was rewritten with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on information from agencies and an article from the Excelsior newspaper in Mexico. It was reviewed by a journalist and an editor.
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