BRENT STECKER

NBA Seattle expansion ‘not on the agenda right now,’ says commissioner Adam Silver

Oct 15, 2018, 10:58 AM

Adam Silver talked to ESPN's Golic and Wingo about a possible NBA Seattle expansion team. (AP)...

Adam Silver talked to ESPN's Golic and Wingo about a possible NBA Seattle expansion team. (AP)

(AP)

Seattle gave the NBA perhaps one of the most memorable moments its preseason has ever seen just nine days ago, but the league itself isn’t moving any closer to bringing a team back to the city.

In an interview on ESPN Radio’s Golic and Wingo on Monday morning, NBA commissioner Adam Silver addressed the possibility of expanding to Seattle – and it wasn’t good news for Sonics fans.

“I love Seattle,” Silver said. “Personally, I think it’s a great market. They’re doing all the right things in terms of building a new arena, or revitalizing KeyArena. It’s just not on the agenda right now.”

The reasoning for why an expansion Sonics team isn’t in the cards is the same as it has been for a while now – revenue sharing. Under the NBA’s current TV deal, it doesn’t make sense for the owners of the league’s 30 teams to add one or two more teams and further divide their share of the league’s TV revenue. But Silver said money isn’t the only issue.

“To me, what we’re most focused on is ensuring that we have 30 strong teams right now, and we still have work to go,” he said. “Not only if you expand does it dilute revenue, but it dilutes talent. I think that’s one thing that people don’t always focus on – they hear big prices for expansion teams, but it’s like selling equity. All of our teams now that own 1/30th of the global prospects of the league, if you expanded by two teams then (they would) own 1/32nd of the global prospects of this league.”

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