Which Expansion Teams Could Enter The NBA?

Hello friends how are you all? Today we are going to talk about Which Expansion Teams Could Enter The NBA? The NBA is the Holy Grail for basketball players and fans all around the world, but it’s not just individuals that dream of making the NBA.

Towns and cities up the length and breadth of the United States and farther afield all harbour dreams of having a franchise competing at basketball’s top level.

In this article, we take a look at two expansion teams that look set to join the NBA in time for the 2024-2025 season and speculate as to which locations would be ideal for further NBA expansion plans.

Which Expansion Teams Could Enter The NBA?

The Las Vegas Blackjacks

For decades Sin City has been spoken about as a potential venue for sporting franchises. In recent years that has come to fruition with the city supporting the Vegas Golden Knights in addition to a number of other smaller franchises.

A Vegas-based NBA team has been mooted for some time and those in the know are suggesting that an expansion involving a Las Vegas Blackjacks team is well underway. In a sport where it’s rare for fans to travel to support their teams, the inclusion of a Vegas team in the NBA might see a huge boost in travelling fan numbers.

Any team entering the NBA would likely be the underdog in the NBA lines until they got properly settled in and began to attract some big-name players, but Sin City would be a promising place to start due to the number of quality players who would be happy to live there.
(Could a LeBron James-backed Las Vegas expansion team come to fruition?)

Seattle Supersonics

Back in 2008 the Supersonics were relocated to Oklahoma and rebranded as the Thunder, leaving a huge amount of basketball fans in the city without a dog in the NBA fight. Since then fans have been clamouring for a return of their beloved Supersonics, could the league grant them their wish? If they do, what might it mean for fans of Oklahoma? Whether Seattle is allowed back into the NBA or not, the decision will be a controversial one regardless.

Mexico City

American sports are huge in America. Elsewhere in the world, they are usually way down the rankings behind sports like soccer, rugby and cricket. The only one of our sports that really thrives beyond our shores is basketball, which puts the NBA in a unique position compared to other domestic leagues like the NFL and MLB.

Basketball could expand abroad, and even with the worst of planning, succeed. If the NBA were looking to expand they could dip their toes in the water by inviting a team from Mexico City into the league.

As it’s not too far away in relative terms and the city itself has a population of 21 million, an expansion here could be seen as a risk-free tester for future overseas projects.
(Should the NBA expand to Mexico City?)

Montreal

Flipping to the other side of the compass we have Montreal in Canada. With expansion into the Canadian market occurring not just in basketball but other American sports, it’s a safe bet to say that an NBA team in Montreal would be popular.

The Bell Centre in the city would be a potential location for an NBA team and with a thriving population of basketball mad fans, a Montreal franchise would have no problem in selling tickets.

Louisville

Critics of a Louisville based NBA team often say that the city is too small to sustain a team, but it’s bigger than both New Orleans and Memphis which already have NBA franchises.

It also has a great basketball pedigree as it is home to two of the best college teams in the country – the Louisville Cardinals and Kentucky Wildcats.

(NBA in Louisville could happen, but will it?)

Vancouver

In 2018 the Toronto Raptors played a preseason game in Vancouver and tickets for the game at the nearly 20,000-capacity Rogers Arena sold out in 20 minutes. The appetite for NBA is most certainly there in Vancouver and behind it, there’s also a great deal of financial clout to support a Vancouver expansion team.
Whether it happens in the next couple of years or at the end of the decade, a Vancouver-based expansion is almost certainly going to happen.

Anaheim

In 2011 the Sacramento Kings looked all set to be relocated to Anaheim, but a corporate funding effort and local support in Sacramento scuppered that plan in its tracks. After a decade and a bit the appetite is still there in Anaheim for an expansion team, could the NBA finally grant them their wish?