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NBA expansion cities, explained: What we know about timeline for new teams in Las Vegas, Seattle originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The NBA is one step closer to having 32 teams.
ESPN's Shams Charania reported Wednesday that the league's Board of Governors has officially approved a vote to "explore bids and applicants" for expansion teams exclusively in Seattle and Las Vegas. To date, it’s the most concrete sign that NBA basketball could be coming to Las Vegas and returning to Seattle.
Plenty more steps will need to be taken for things to become more official — including a bidding process for both new franchises.
Here’s everything to know about the NBA eyeing expansion into Seattle and Las Vegas.
MORE: The Sporting News' latest 2026 NBA Mock Draft
What's next for NBA expansion?
Now that the NBA has officially gotten approval to move forward in the expansion process, the next step will be fielding potential bids for ownership of the two new teams. Per ESPN, the expectation is that each team will be valued between $7-10 billion, a higher price compared to some current NBA teams' valuations because executives estimate that both Las Vegas and Seattle "would be among the NBA's top eight revenue generators."
Soon, investors and investment groups will be able to make bids to become the owners of a Seattle or Las Vegas NBA team.
According to ESPN, investment bank PJT Partners has been brought with the league "as a strategic adviser to evaluate prospective markets, ownership groups, arena infrastructure, and the broader economic implications of expansion."
The league will be examining both Las Vegas and Seattle in the next few months, per ESPN, including deciding "whether to execute the new franchise purchases in 2026 or in a few years." Once there is a top bid, there would be a potential final vote later on to finalize the transactions to 32 teams. In order for those transactions to be approved, 23 of 30 governors must vote in favor.
Commissioner Adam Silver noted Wednesday, however, that the league "didn't announce today (that) we are expanding," but rather "announced today that we're exploring expanding," per Marc Stein.
The process will likely move slowly — The Athletic reported that the vetting process for buyers of expansion teams is "usually a months-long process involving detailed, forensic examinations of the financial capabilities of potential ownership groups," meaning the NBA will be tedious about which new owners it approves.
MORE: Why isn't all-time leading G League scorer Mac McClung in the NBA?
NBA expansion vote
Last week, ESPN reported that the NBA would soon hold a vote at a board of governors meeting to explore the additions of Las Vegas and Seattle franchises to the league, with "momentum" to approve those expansion teams.
That became official on Wednesday, with the vote marking concrete plans for the NBA to move forward in building out its expansion franchises. The Board of Governors approved for the league to begin fielding bids and applicants for ownership of the two expansion teams, exclusively focused in Seattle and Las Vegas.
"Today's vote reflects our Board's interest in exploring potential expansion to Las Vegas and Seattle -- two markets with a long history of support for NBA basketball," NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement, per ESPN. "We look forward to taking this next step and engaging with interested parties."
NBA expansion cities
The NBA's expansion process is now exclusively focused on two cities.
Las Vegas
While the NBA has never had a permanent franchise in Las Vegas, there is already a significant league presence in the city.
In 1983-84, the Utah Jazz played 11 games in the city as they looked to increase attendance and fan interest — and during one of those games against the Lakers, Kareem-Abdul Jabbar become the NBA's all-time leading scorer in Vegas.
Since 2004, Las Vegas has also been the host of the NBA Summer League, where top young players and developmental talent compete in the offseason.
And most recently, Las Vegas has been the site of the NBA Cup semifinals and championship since the in-season tournament began a few years ago, with the Knicks winning the 2025-26 NBA Cup.
All of that NBA involvement in Las Vegas has long pointed to the city being a leader in any expansion talks, and now, it's coming to fruition. Add in the fact that virtually every major sports league already has, or is building, a presence in Sin City — the NFL's Raiders and MLB's Athletics both moved (or plan to move) to the city, while the WNBA's Aces and the NHL's Golden Knights were expansion teams — and Las Vegas was a virtual shoe-in to be considered for NBA expansion.
Seattle
Ever since the Seattle SuperSonics became the Oklahoma City Thunder, fans in the Northwest United States have been yearning for the NBA's return to Seattle. And now, they appear to be getting it.
It's not yet official whether or not the SuperSonics will be technically returning, but at the least, Seattle is in-line to become a top NBA market once again. Originally founded in 1967 and remaining in the league until 2008, the SuperSonics played their home games at KeyArena, which is now Climate Pledge Arena, for 33 years.
They won a championship in 1979, also winning the Western Conference in 1978 and 1996; notable players who spent time in Seattle over the years include Gus Williams, Nate McMillan, Lenny Wilkins, Spencer Haywood, Fred Brown, Jack Sikma, David Thompson, Dennis Johnson, Gary Payton, Ray Allen and Kevin Durant.
Subject to NBA approval, the SuperSonics' nickname, logo and color scheme would be available to any new expansion franchise in Seattle. It wouldn't be official for quite some time, but the eventual return of the SuperSonics would appear likely. At minimum, one of basketball's top markets, Seattle, appears set to have an NBA team once again.
NBA expansion timeline
According to ESPN, the NBA has been planning its potential expansion timeline with the idea of the two new franchises starting play in the 2028-29 season. That would give two years for ownership bids to be made, the process to become more official, teams and staff to be built out, arena deals to be agreed to, etc.
However, that also isn't yet official. Part of the next steps for the NBA, per ESPN, will be examining Seattle and Las Vegas and deciding whether to execute a purchase in 2026 or wait "a few years."
Before that decision can be made, there will be the process of bidding for Las Vegas and Seattle teams. According to ESPN, while more current NBA owners have been warming up to the idea of expansion, "some owners remain hesitant on selling some of their shares and having their league equity go from 1/30 to 1/32, and want to see the final valuations of the bids plus the individual franchise fees before deciding whether to expand now or in a few more years."
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday that "there are some" NBA owners who don't see a need for the league to expand from 30 teams to 32, per Marc Stein.
Whenever the NBA is able to hold a Board of Governors vote to formalize the eventual top bids for the two teams, things will be more set-in-stone.
NBA expansion draft rules
In an NBA expansion draft, every current team must make at least one player available to be selected by the new teams. When an expansion team selects a player in the draft, it is able to waive the contracts of that player without them counting against the cap.
The NBA and NBAPA are able to make potential changes to an expansion draft, but based on the league's most recent case in 2004, the other 29 teams were allowed to protect eight players in the draft — including their own restricted free agents. Any other players were eligible to be drafted, except for the caveat that each team could only lose one player. So, once an expansion team selected a player from Team X, then no more players from Team X could be drafted.
Given how the NBA has changed over the past two decades, there's a good chance that for a new-age expansion draft, some rules and regulations are tweaked.
When was the last NBA expansion?
The last time the NBA expanded was in 2004, when the Charlotte Bobcats joined the league.
They began play in the 2004-05 season, replacing the Hornets, which moved to New Orleans. However, in 2014, the Charlotte franchise rebranded back to the Hornets name.
How much do NBA expansion teams cost?
NBA expansion team prices often depend on the city and market, but for the proposed franchises in Las Vegas and Seattle, ESPN reported that the expected valuation for each team will fall between $7-10 billion.
Because NBA team valuations are always increasing, and projections indicate that Las Vegas and Seattle would instantly become top NBA markets, the hypothetical expansion teams have a higher projected valuation than most current NBA teams.
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