NBA eyes expansion after finalizing media deal, Seattle may see Sonics return

SEATTLE — NBA Commissioner Adam Silver signaled on Thursday night that the NBA will turn to expansion as part of a process after reaching a media rights deal.

Seattle fans and elected officials have been cautiously watching every word from the commissioner since the Sonics left in 2008.

Media deals, it’s been a long process. It’s ongoing, and we hope to wrap it up in the relatively near term, and then we will turn to expansion,” said Silver just before Game One of the NBA Finals. “But by turning to expansion it doesn’t mean we’re going to announce that now we’re ready to add teams. It means that there will be a committee of NBA governors that will focus on it. There are markets out there that are very interested and will run through a process.

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He has previously mentioned Seattle and Vegas as being near the top of the list of viable cities for expansion, especially since the opening of Climate Pledge Arena in 2021.

“I’m actually very excited about turning to that process, but first, we’ve just got to be finished with the media deals,” Silver said.

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell has been stoking the green and gold flames in recent months, mentioning bringing back the Sonics in his State of the City address earlier this year. Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson and councilmember Rob Saka also spoke about the idea in a Council briefing on Monday, noting recent meetings.

Silver did not indicate how close the league may be to closing the TV digital rights deal, noting it’s “incredibly complex”. Reports have suggested that ESPN/ABC, Amazon, and either TBS/TNT or NBC will be partners in that deal, which could approach $76 billion.

The NBA Expansion fee could be near $4-$5 billion.

The last time the NBA expanded was in December 2002 in Charlotte, for a team that started in 2004.