The NBA could be headed west.
A vote to explore adding expansion teams in Las Vegas and Seattle will occur at the Board of Governors meetings later in March, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Monday.
The franchises would aim begin play in the 2028-29 season, and there is “momentum” toward approval on bids for the teams that could reach $10 billion, per Charania.
Expansion would still require one more vote later this year to finalize the move to 32 teams.
In both voting rounds, 23 of 30 team governors must vote in favour in order for the motions to pass.
The NBA has not expanded since 2004, when the then-Charlotte Bobcats joined the league.
Seattle had an NBA team, the SuperSonics, in town from 1967 to 2008 before the franchise was purchased and relocated to Oklahoma City, where it became the Thunder.
Las Vegas has never had an NBA franchise, though the NHL and NFL both added teams in the Nevada city in recent years. Las Vegas hosts the NBA’s annual Summer League.
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