Commish says when potential Seattle NBA expansion team would play

NBA commissioner Adam Silver just put a date on when a potential new Seattle Sonics franchise would begin play should the league decide to award an NBA expansion team to the Emerald City.

“If we expand, at least, we’re thinking ’28-29 season,” Silver said Tuesday in an interview on The Dan Patrick Show.

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The 2028-29 season has been speculated as the target should the NBA decide to expand. The NBA Board of Governors approved in March to explore expansion in two specific cities: Seattle and Las Vegas.

“The only two cities, at the moment, we’re looking at are Las Vegas and Seattle,” Silver continued to Patrick. “We haven’t had a vote on it, it’s not a foregone conclusion, but we’re in the process of talking to groups that are interested in getting an expansion team in those two cities.”

"If we expand, at least, we're thinking 28/29 season. The only two cities, at the moment, we're looking at are Las Vegas and Seattle. We haven't had a vote on it, it's not a foregone conclusion, but we're in the process of talking…"

– Adam Silver on NBA expansion pic.twitter.com/k14UBPjZJC

— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) June 23, 2026

If an NBA expansion team is awarded to Seattle for the 2028-29 season, it would begin play 20 years after the city lost the Sonics to Oklahoma City.

Silver maintained that that the NBA could decide to add two, one or no teams at all at this juncture.

“We’re currently looking at two teams, but what we’ve said is it’s possible we won’t expand at all, and we could expand to just one market. But we’re officially looking at both those markets right now,” Silver said.

Silver also said that if the NBA expands by two to 32 teams, “we’ll want to likely even out the conferences, so there will be some movement then.”

Seattle has one serious contender to land an expansion team: One Roof Sports and Entertainment, the umbrella brand for the NHL’s Seattle Kraken that also has controlling interest of Climate Pledge Arena, the likely home for a new Seattle Sonics NBA expansion franchise.

On Monday, Bill Foley announced he is preparing a bid for a Las Vegas NBA expansion franchise. Foley is founder and majority owner of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights.

More Seattle Sonics NBA expansion news

• Amid push for NBA, Kraken ownership adds Melinda French Gates
• Step made toward Seattle Sonics NBA expansion bid, per report
• Update on Seattle Sonics NBA expansion reported by Bloomberg

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