ESPN report on Las Vegas bids seems like good news for Seattle Sonics expansion

If you’re looking for a good sign about progress being made toward a Seattle Sonics NBA expansion team, a new report from ESPN might have one.

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ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania reported Tuesday that the NBA “is expected to select the winning bid for ownership of the Las Vegas expansion team in the very near future,” and that the league “will hold a formal approval process by the end of December on two expansion teams.”

The NBA has been moving toward a final vote on expanding by two teams to 32 since March, when its Board of Governors approved exploring expansion teams specifically in Seattle and Las Vegas.

Charania also reported Tuesday that the final price for a franchise and new arena in Vegas could be up to $12-13 billion, and that runners-up for ownership of a Vegas team could subsequently “join the Seattle bid process.”

One good sign coming with Charania’s report is that a more concrete timeline for a final vote on expansion – “a formal approval process by the end of December” – has apparently been pinned down. Another is that with a Vegas team’s prospective ownership soon to be agreed upon, the league will be free to focus on Seattle, where there is less to figure out logistically.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said earlier this month that the league talked more in its most recent owner’s meetings about a potential Las Vegas team due to there being more variables at play than in Seattle, which has a venue ready to go in Climate Pledge Arena whereas Vegas has an unsettled arena situation.

There’s also a clear frontrunner for a Seattle ownership group in One Roof Sports and Entertainment, which is headed by Seattle Kraken chair Samantha Holloway and is the majority owner of Climate Pledge Arena.

Charania reported Tuesday that the NBA continues to target as soon as the 2028-29 season to add expansion teams to the league.

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