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The road to 32 NBA teams is officially on.
The association’s Board of Governors approved a vote on Wednesday to explore bids and applicants for expansion teams in Las Vegas and Seattle, ESPN reported.
ESPN noted that the association is eyeing the 2028-29 season for the teams to begin playing, and it’s a matter of “when, not if.”
A team in Seattle would mark a return to a city that had an NBA champion in the SuperSonics in 1979. They moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder in 2008, less than a year after drafting Kevin Durant with the second overall pick.
Seattle and Las Vegas are now set to be Big Four cities for the first time — after decades of the Mariners and Seahawks, the NHL expanded to Seattle in 2021 to bring in the Kraken, 13 years after the Sonics left.
As for Las Vegas, after decades of not having any professional sports due to concerns about legalized gambling, it will soon have a professional team in each of the four major sports leagues. The NHL expanded in the city in 2017, bringing in the Vegas Golden Knights, and the Oakland Raiders moved to southern Nevada three years later. The Athletics of Major League Baseball will be there in 2028 — they are currently playing in a minor-league stadium in Sacramento as their Vegas stadium is under construction and their lease in Oakland ran out.
Bids are expected to be at least $7 billion and could rise to even $10 billion.
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LeBron James made news last week when he took himself out of the Las Vegas bidding process after once setting a goal to own a team there.
“It’s a sports town. Hopefully I can bring my franchise here someday,” James said during the NBA Cup, in which the semifinals and finals are played in Las Vegas, in 2023.
But when asked last week if he’s still interested in owning a team, James said bluntly, “No, I’m not. Not at all.”
James has been a business partner with Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool of the Premier League, since 2011.
However, before James’ comments, The Athletic reported that because bids could reach as high as $8 billion for the Vegas team, the group is not interested in participating in the bidding.
The WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces also moved from San Antonio in 2018 and have won three titles since then.
The NBA has not expanded since 2004, when the association returned to Charlotte for the Bobcats after the original Hornets moved to New Orleans. That team is now the Pelicans, while the Bobcats reacquired the original Hornets moniker in 2014.
Las Vegas hosted the 2007 NBA All-Star Game.
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