NFL
By Jalen Willingham
Today’s NBA is now more competitive than ever before. The game of basketball is constantly evolving in terms of size, athleticism, and overall skill. Victor Wembanyama, a 7 ‘4 big man with the playstyle of a guard is a prime example. Every team has a player averaging at least 20 points per game. That is something that you couldn’t have even said 10 years ago. The game is played at a much faster pace while players across the board are more and more skilled. There may also be many other players in the NBA that are like Nets guard Cam Thomas who are just sitting on the bench waiting for their time to shine.
The Coronavirus pandemic is now over and this allows more space for an official expansion to gain momentum. Expansion fees are going to be well over $2 billion for just one team along with a two-thirds vote from the NBA owners.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has said multiple times that he expects the league to expand but has yet to put a timeframe on it. When asked about potentially expanding after the 2024 season, Silver quickly denied it by saying that they “are not discussing that at this time.” The NBA is of course no stranger to expansion as we’ve seen the league go from 11 to 30 teams along with many teams relocating and changing names as well.
Which lucky cities deserve a new team?
Here are three cities that the NBA has to consider:
Seattle
You simply can’t start a conversation about NBA Expansion without mentioning the city of Seattle. Seattle’s history of having an NBA team was unfortunately taken away from them with the relocation and rebranding of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Fans have been dying to have a basketball team back in Seattle ever since. The city already has the Seattle Seahawks, Mariners, Kraken, and the WNBA team known as the Seattle Storm. Bringing an NBA team back to Seattle would be the cherry on top.
Las Vegas
The city of Las Vegas has become the fastest-growing sports market in the country. Sin City is home to the NHL Vegas Golden Knights, NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders, and the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces. The NBA Summer League has been hosted there and in 2024, the Super Bowl will be coming to Vegas in Allegiant Stadium. This is a prime opportunity that the NBA can’t miss out on. It would of course take some time to build an official arena for the team, but an NBA team in Las Vegas would be the icing on the cake.
Kansas City
Kansas City may not be an obvious choice like the first two, but I think it would be a win-win situation if an NBA team called this town home. KC already has the recent Super Bowl Champion Chiefs franchise along with the MLB’s Royals and Sporting Kansas City with the MLS. From 1973-1985, the city had the Kansas City Kings before relocating to Sacramento to become the Sacramento Kings. The sports market here gets a ton of support and an NBA team coming back would be more than welcomed.
