The NBA is moving. According to ESPN's Shams Charania, the league's Board of Governors will hold a formal vote at their March 24–25 meetings to explore adding expansion franchises exclusively in Las Vegas and Seattle, with both teams targeted to begin play in the 2028–29 season. For the vote to pass, 23 of the league's 30 owners must approve. There is reported momentum in that direction.
This is the first vote of its kind — not a final approval, but the formal first step that opens the bidding process for prospective ownership groups. If it passes, a second vote later in 2026 would finalize the expansion. Industry executives are projecting franchise fees in the $7–10 billion range per team, a number that reflects how dramatically NBA valuations have moved in three years. The Suns sold for $4 billion in 2022. The Celtics went for $6.1 billion in 2025. The Lakers changed hands for $10 billion shortly after. Both new markets are expected to rank among the league's top eight revenue generators.
Las Vegas has been building its sports infrastructure for years — the Golden Knights, the Raiders, the WNBA's Aces, and soon the A's. The city has made the case that it can sustain major league sports alongside its entertainment economy. Magic Johnson has already signaled interest in being part of an ownership group there. Bill Foley, who owns the Golden Knights and a stake in T-Mobile Arena, is another name in the mix. LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal have both expressed public interest. Whoever ends up with the Las Vegas franchise will be buying into one of the most watched bidding wars in sports business history.
The Seattle story is different in kind. The SuperSonics were in Seattle from 1967 through 2008, when Clay Bennett's ownership group — widely understood to have purchased the team with the intention of relocating it — moved the franchise to Oklahoma City, where it became the Thunder. The city sued. The league settled. Seattle got nothing. For sixteen years, the city has watched the team it lost become one of the most consistent winning franchises in the league, with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and now Shai Gilgeous-Alexander carrying what should have been a Seattle story. Climate Pledge Arena, the renovated former Key Arena, is ready. The Kraken play there now. The infrastructure question was answered years ago.
The basketball question is real, though. Adding two Western Conference teams means one existing West team shifts to the East — Minnesota, Memphis, and New Orleans are the names being floated — and the league would need to run an expansion draft, diluting rosters at a moment when roughly a third of the league is already tanking. The NBA is also pursuing a European league, with final bids due March 31. The league is expanding in multiple directions simultaneously, and the product questions are legitimate.
But the cultural and business logic is hard to argue with. Las Vegas and Seattle are destination markets with the infrastructure, fan bases, and economic weight to support top-tier franchises. The Sonics belong back in Seattle. And Las Vegas has already proved it can build championship-caliber sports culture from scratch. The vote next week is the first real signal of which way this goes.
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