What Next? League expansion or relocations

[monopoman]

Don't get why people are still so gaga over relocation. You do understand that whatever team gets relocated will just be the new Sonics and the city of whatever team gets relocated will just become the first candidate for expansion if it ever happens right?

Plenty of cities in the past have lost NBA teams and have not gotten them back, the Sonics situation was a complete bamboozling of many involved though and it put a bad look on moving teams.

You act like every city that lost an NBA team for any reason has gotten one back down the line.

[The_Ghost_of_JB]

Why in the world were the NBA want to expand and add two more bad teams to the league? In fact they need to get rid of some teams.

I'd start with both Los Angeles teams, both New York teams, the warriors bulls and finally the heat

[Black Mage]

I know this topic has probably been discussed upteen times in this forum. Would have loved to add a poll, don't know yet how....lol

I think the NBA should expand to TWO additional teams (Seattle (a must), Vegas/Kansas City/Vancouver).

However, I also believe that NBA should work with owners to relocate teams in smaller markets to markets with a bigger audience. Most owners in smaller markets are forced to either penny pinch on player salary or fan experience due to lack of revenue their teams generate. If it wasn't for revenue sharing this would be a major problem.

What's stopping them? Lease agreements, tax subsidies, or the owners just plain lazy?

Seattle a must. I only agree to Vegas as the 2nd if the basketball court rises up out of the waters in front of the Bellagio and the fountains put on a show during every commercial break.

[Spens1]

Hopefully expansion.

I'd bring in Seattle and Vancouver and move Memphis to the east (also i'd give the grizzlies back their branding, its only fair tbh, Memphis could go by the Hustle or maybe get their jazz branding back, not sure how many jazz clubs are in Salt Lake City to justify said name, then again their isn't many lakes in L.A either )

As for Vegas, honestly they should get a G-League team first, i don't really trust the vegas market to sustain a loyal NBA audience.

[rand]

Kind of like the NY Knicks/evil empire, Los Angeles Lakers and clippers, they should get rid of the teams from the whiny small market cities, and place them adjacent to a team already in a big market or big following. Miami, GSW, Dallas, Chicago, etc should get another one. That way you can lessen traveling.

I actually agree with this in theory. Zero point in small market teams existing. This isn't the NFL.

And all of the fans of these teams we're getting rid of are expected to migrate their fandom to another NBA team? Some will, but many if not most won't.

No, it just means the loss of TV markets and investment beyond saturation into the big markets which are already occupied.

[zimpy27]

I'd like to see 24 teams in the NBA and 24 teams in a lower league (ABA).
Bottom 2 teams from each conference in NBA get relegated to ABA.

This would be 48 teams above g league. I think USA has more than enough people to support this

[brutalitops]

Seattle/Vegas will generate about 6 billion dollars straight into the NBA in a single year purely on selling the licence

[Viper1500]

Tampa should get team

With Orlando 1.5 hours away I doubt that'll ever happen.

[JDJ26]

Expansion. Seattle (Sonics) and Las Vegas (Vipers). A Las Vegas team would be a top 5 free agent destination for the players.

[PZiv]

I know Inglewood arena is probably in the works, but Clippers would’ve been ideal for relocation to Las Vegas
Also Minnesota should be the one to be moved to Eastern conf first.

[TwitterFingers]

I hate the idea of expansion. If I were king of the nba I would move the Clippers and nets to Vancouver and Seattle

[donato]

Hopefully expansion.

I'd bring in Seattle and Vancouver and move Memphis to the east (also i'd give the grizzlies back their branding, its only fair tbh, Memphis could go by the Hustle or maybe get their jazz branding back, not sure how many jazz clubs are in Salt Lake City to justify said name, then again their isn't many lakes in L.A either )

As for Vegas, honestly they should get a G-League team first, i don't really trust the vegas market to sustain a loyal NBA audience.

Jazz originated (both the music and the team) in New Orleans. Memphis is known for blues (not the same as jazz btw).

[Zan Tabacco]

Tampa should get team

With Orlando 1.5 hours away I doubt that'll ever happen.

Unless the Magic move to Tampa.

[Zan Tabacco]

Kind of like the NY Knicks/evil empire, Los Angeles Lakers and clippers, they should get rid of the teams from the whiny small market cities, and place them adjacent to a team already in a big market or big following. Miami, GSW, Dallas, Chicago, etc should get another one. That way you can lessen traveling.

I actually agree with this in theory. Zero point in small market teams existing. This isn't the NFL.

And all of the fans of these teams we're getting rid of are expected to migrate their fandom to another NBA team? Some will, but many if not most won't.

No, it just means the loss of TV markets and investment beyond saturation into the big markets which are already occupied.

No I don't think anything you stated matters honestly. The NBA will continue to grow globally, so the fan bases of small markets don't matter as much to the bottom line as they do in NFL. In fact I think the league would do much better monetarily just having teams located in markets players want to be in long-term. There's no oversaturation of markets when the league is mostly TV revenue driven. You'll always find 20k people to fill a stadium in a major city like New York or LA. Most younger fans and foreign fans follow specific players, not teams. No one in India, China, Europe, Africa, Latin America, Australia etc.. cares if Memphis loses their basketball team. You think there are more basketball fans in New Orleans than China?

[Metallikid]

They don't want to have to do an expansion draft.

[HotelVitale]

A Las Vegas team would be a top 5 free agent destination for the players.

Yeah but a) that's a very bad thing for other owners (esp non-glamorous market ones) and b) not particularly good for growing the NBA's reach. Vegas might be an interesting and growing city but it'd be a very small NBA market in size and the region around it is barren too--there's hundreds of miles in every direction around Las Vegas with very few people, until you get to the LA and Phoenix areas (which are of course already spoken for).

In other words, a franchise might get NBA players excited but I'm not sure it's actually the best bet for NBA business and other NBA teams.

[HotelVitale]

Kind of like the NY Knicks/evil empire, Los Angeles Lakers and clippers, they should get rid of the teams from the whiny small market cities, and place them adjacent to a team already in a big market or big following. Miami, GSW, Dallas, Chicago, etc should get another one. That way you can lessen traveling.

Not sure the math works there, droog. The NYC metro area is like 4 times the size of the SF Bay Area, and more than 3 times the size of Miami. LA is twice the size of even a bigger market like Dallas. Plus being the only thing in town for places like Indy or Salt Lake seems to work well for the NBA marketing-wise.

[DoItALL9]

Tampa should get team

Tampa may get to keep the Raptors an additional season depending on how things go in the coming months

Sent from my LM-G710 using RealGM mobile app

[Sothron]

Two new teams: Seattle and Vancouver. Both cities have great fans and deserve to have teams again. Vancouver IMO really got screwed by stealing their team so early in their lifespan despite fan support.

You then move Minnesota and Memphis to the East. This stops the Twolves from having the NBA's worst travel schedule by far year after year. Memphis should never have been in the West. This sets up natural rivalries with Memphis and other closer teams like Atlanta, Chicago and the Hornets.

I'd also try and get Memphis to give up the Grizzles name and logos so it goes back to Vancouver. Their jerseys and designs have First Nation symbols and its only appropriate that it goes back to Vancouver. Memphis can rename itself the Blues since there's no NBA Blues just the one in the NHL.

[nomansland]

Seattle

And Mexico D.F


Do it silverman!

I live in Mexico City (not actually called D.F. anymore), and even though there are a lot of basketball fans here, there really are way too many problems with trying to get an NBA team here for it to happen.
If there were to ever be a professional US sports team here, it would most likely be an NFL team (Way more NFL fans here than NBA fans), but even that is most likely never going to happen.
Now Seatlle - that I actually do see happening in the next few years!

Yeah I lived in Mexico City half time for 3 years not too long ago and it would be a big mistake to prioritize it over other cities in North America. And for the record I love Mexico City. It's amazing.

But Players won't want to play there. Coaches won't want to coach there. The language, security issues, traffic, bureaucracy and other things that make super rich people uncomfortable are magnified there. If players don't like the idea of playing in Spain because of the cultural differences it's crazy to think they'll be cool with Mexico.

Travel in and out can be a huge hassle. Hour long lines to enter the country are not uncommon. And it seems geographically close if you're in Texas but from New York or Portland it's a long effing way.

Then you have the economics. Even rich people will scoff at paying $8 for a beer or $20 for parking, both of which are part of the economic model for owners in the U.S. $5 dollar hot dogs when people pay $1 for 3 tacos on the street? Won't happen. A $500 million state of the art arena has to pay for itself unless you want the government to pay for it. Lol at getting local politicians to support that, and rightfully so.

Then like you said, the NBA is a distant 3rd behind futbol and the NFL in terms of sports popularity. Big hill to climb for basketball right now. Maybe in 20 years it's a possibility but for now, put teams in more realistic places.