NBA commissioner’s latest expansion update: ‘We’re not quite ready’

NBA commissioner Adam Silver spoke to media in New York on Tuesday during the second day of the league’s Board of Governors meetings, and he shared that there was not much in the way of expansion talks during this board meeting.

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The reason, according to Silver, was simple: “We’re not quite ready,” the commissioner said.

Silver had said many times that once the league got its next series of media rights deals done — something that was signed earlier this summer, though there is an ongoing legal challenge brought by Warner Bros. Discovery — that expansion would be the next big thing for the league to tackle.

“I know I’ve said this before, I think over time organizations should grow. It is appropriate,” Silver said. “But it gets a bit complicated in terms of selling equity in the league, what that means for the existing television relationships, etc. What we’ve told interested parties is, ‘Thank you for your interest, we’ll be back to you.’”

The front-running cities for expansion, should the NBA decide to add teams, have long been thought to be Seattle and Las Vegas.

• Timberwolves, Celtics sales update

The NBA is essentially in wait-and-see mode regarding the potential sales of two franchises, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Boston Celtics.

The sale situation surrounding the Timberwolves has been in dispute for months. Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez agreed more than three years ago to buy the Timberwolves for $1.5 billion from Glen Taylor, who halted the sale on March 28 because he said they missed the deadline to make the final payment. Those parties are headed to arbitration, though it remains unclear what will come of that.

“That’s a process that exists independent of the league that was set out in the sales agreement,” Silver said.

Meanwhile, in July, the ownership group of the NBA champion Boston Celtics, led by Wyc Grousbeck, said it intends to sell the majority of its shares later this year or early next year, then close on a sale of the balance of remaining shares in 2028.

“I think that Wyc Grousbeck and his ownership group are in the process of working through what the steps will be,” Silver said.

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