A step closer to Sonics: NBA votes to explore Seattle, Vegas expansion

The NBA is officially serious about welcoming two expansion teams, one of which is expected to be a returning Seattle Sonics franchise.

The league’s Board of Governors has agreed in a vote to “explore bids and applicants for expansion teams exclusively” in Seattle and Las Vegas, as ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania first reported Wednesday morning, clearing the way for a final vote to add franchises later this year.

The league confirmed the approved vote in a press release.

“Today’s vote reflects our Board’s interest in exploring potential expansion to Las Vegas and Seattle — two markets with a long history of support for NBA basketball,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “We look forward to taking this next step and engaging with interested parties.”

Silver will hold a news conference later Wednesday to discuss next steps. The league said investment bank PJT Partners has been brought on “as a strategic adviser to evaluate prospective markets, ownership groups, arena infrastructure, and the broader economic implications of expansion.”

The following has been released by the NBA. pic.twitter.com/SRIvFMcnlF

— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) March 25, 2026

“Seattle can’t wait to welcome our Sonics back home” Seattle mayor Katie Wilson said in a press release. “The city is ready, the fans are ready, the arena is ready, and I could not be more excited about what’s next.”

Charania said last week that the league is targeting the 2028-29 regular season for the potential expansion teams to debut, which would make it an even 20 years since the Sonics were moved out of Seattle.

Per Charania, a bidding process is expected to generate offers in the $7-10 billion range for each team.

A two-thirds majority, or 23 of the NBA’s 30 governors, is needed to pass issues brought to vote.

News of the vote being on the docket for the Board of Governors’ meeting, which was set for Tuesday and Wednesday, was first reported last week by Charania, who said a “growing number of owners” were believed to be in support of expansion in Seattle and Las Vegas.

Charania told Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy last week that his understanding was that the vote was a “formality to pass” and would “give the NBA the permission” to start a bidding process with prospective ownership groups in Seattle and Vegas.

NBA’s Seattle natives weigh in ahead of big expansion vote

A likely bidder for a Seattle franchise emerged this week with the formation of One Roof Sports and Entertainment, a new parent company of the Seattle Kraken ownership group that was revealed in an announcement Monday. One Roof also has entered an agreement to purchase additional equity in Climate Pledge Arena from Oak View Group and make the organization the majority owner of the building, which houses the Kraken and is the likely home arena for a new NBA team.

The NBA has been absent from Seattle since 2008, when a group that had bought the SuperSonics from former owner Howard Schultz moved the franchise to Oklahoma City, where it became the Thunder. The city opened Climate Pledge Arena, which was built on the site of the former Key Arena and Seattle Coliseum on the Seattle Center campus, in 2022. While approving the process to build the new arena landed the city the NHL’s Kraken, a key factor in breaking ground was the hope that it would help bring the NBA back to the Emerald City.

The Sonics became the first major pro sports team in Seattle when they stepped on the court for the 1967-68 season, and they won the city’s first major pro sports championship when they beat the Washington Bullets in the 1979 NBA Finals. Over the team’s 41 years in Seattle, it won the Western Conference to reach the NBA Finals three times, and claimed six division titles.

Could a Sonics return bring Kevin Durant back to Seattle?

There have been several stops and starts on the road to potential NBA expansion, which was expected to be the next item of business after the league’s massive media rights deal was finalized in the summer of 2024. But it took a backseat when the Boston Celtics, at the time the defending champions, were put up for sale. Then the viability of adding two more teams came into question, particularly what it meant for the bottom line of the league’s current owners.

Things began inching back toward expansion last summer, with NBA commissioner Adam Silver relaying that the owners wanted an “in-depth analysis” of what expansion would mean in terms of talent dilution and the potential impact of selling equity in the NBA.

If the NBA officially expands to 32 teams, it will be the first addition to the league since 20024 when the Charlotte Bobcats – who took back the Hornets nickname from New Orleans in 2014 – joined as an expansion franchise. There was just a two-year gap between when the original Hornets left Charlotte and when the Bobcats began play.

This post includes contributions from The Associated Press.

More: Insider explains good and bad of NBA expansion in Seattle, Vegas

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