Adam Silver points to Las Vegas, Seattle amid upcoming NBA expansion vote

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver addressed several topics on Wednesday night in San Antonio ahead of the 2026 NBA Finals, including the ongoing discussions about expansion franchises for the cities of Las Vegas and Seattle.

In March, the NBA Board of Governors approved a vote to begin exploring the possibility of adding two new expansion franchises in these two markets, and the league has continued its talks with partners in these cities to prepare formal bids of expansion.

The bidding process for Las Vegas and Seattle expansion franchises is expected to generate offers in the $7 billion to $10 billion range, which will directly tie into an increase in revenue for the NBA and its teams.

On Wednesday, Silver continued to point in the direction of Las Vegas and Seattle being rewarded franchises, claiming that a formal vote by the Board of Governors to officially approve the bids and the NBA expanding to these two markets is expected by the end of the calendar year.

The NBA has been talking with interested bidders in both Las Vegas and Seattle, gathering essential information before this final vote of approval takes place. Although the commissioner did caution that there is no guarantee one or both markets will gain approval for new franchises, the league continues to trend toward adding two new teams in these cities.

“Discussions are ongoing,” Silver stated on Wednesday night at the NBA Finals. “I think everyone knows at this point we’re focused on Las Vegas and Seattle. There are multiple groups interested in both cities. We are in discussions with them. The timeline, as I’ve said before, it’s not a foregone conclusion that we will expand either in one city or both cities.

“But what we’ve told all interested parties is our anticipation our board will make a decision by the end of this calendar year.”

To this point, all indications point to Las Vegas and Seattle being awarded expansion franchises, which likely would not officially join the NBA until the 2028-29 season if approved by the board at the end of 2026.

With two teams potentially being added to the Western Conference, the league would reassign one current West team to the Eastern Conference in order to have 16 franchises in both conference.

While Silver did not allude to this while talking about expansion on Wednesday, multiple league personnel who have spoken with ClutchPoints through the months have pointed to the Minnesota Timberwolves being the most likely organization to move from the West to the East.

Geographically, Minneapolis is closer to teams in the Eastern Conference’s Central Division, which includes the likes of the Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, and Cleveland Cavaliers, than they are to those in its current Western Conference Northwest Division, which includes the Denver Nuggets, Oklahoma City Thunder, Portland Trail Blazers, and Utah Jazz.

There is also a possibility of the divisions across the board being shaken up by the addition of two teams in the Western Conference, but there is no clarity at this time on what the NBA will decide to do on this front.

The Memphis Grizzlies are another team that has been mentioned as a West team that could move to the East, but the overwhelming belief around the NBA is that Minnesota would be the franchise migrating to the other conference.

Possible changes to what the expansion draft would look like are also unclear at this time.

The NBA has not expanded since 2004, when the Charlotte Bobcats were recognized as the league’s 30th franchise.

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