On Monday morning, on Get Up, ESPN’s Shams Charania shared an NBA Expansion update. He reported that the NBA would hold a vote at the board of governors meetings next week to discuss adding expansion teams exclusively in Las Vegas and Seattle.
“So, Peter, sources tell me the NBA will hold a vote next week at the Board of Governors meetings on March 24th and 25th to allow the league to explore adding two new expansion teams, specifically in Las Vegas and Seattle. These teams would be targeted for the 2028–29 season. There is growing momentum among stakeholders to evaluate the market and determine what potential proposals could look like,” said Charania.
“Industry executives say franchise valuations could range between $7 billion and $10 billion per team in Seattle and Las Vegas. At this stage, the initial vote is largely viewed as a formality. There appears to be strong support among NBA owners to move forward and allow the league to begin exploring bids.”
He added, “This is just the first step in a multi-stage process. The league would first receive permission to explore expansion, then gather bids. If those bids meet the required threshold, a final vote could take place later in 2026 to approve expansion to 32 NBA teams.
I’m told there is a growing majority of owners who support expansion. When you look at Seattle and Las Vegas, these are major markets across leagues like the NHL and the NFL.
The question then becomes: could these two teams quickly emerge as top revenue generators? That’s what we’ll see unfold over the course of 2026.”
In February, Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News reported that the NBA’s Board of Governors will decide whether to expand by adding two teams. Seattle and Las Vegas would be the two locations if expansion is fully opened, as expected.
The Supersonics relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008 and changed their name to the Oklahoma City Thunder with future Hall of Famer Kevin Durant as the face of the franchise. Since the franchise’s departure almost 19 years ago, the Seattle fanbase has been pushing to bring the Sonics back to the Emerald City.
Last month, according to The Seattle Times, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver met with Washington State Governor Bob Ferguson to discuss Seattle’s potential expansion bid.
In December, Silver shared that they were looking at both Seattle and Vegas.
“Not a secret, we’re looking at this market in Las Vegas. We are looking at Seattle,” Silver said before the NBA Cup final between San Antonio and New York. “We’ve looked at other markets as well. I’d say I want to be sensitive there about this notion that we’re somehow teasing these markets, because I know we’ve been talking about it for a while.”
As news began circulating on social media, Sonics fans started noting that Kevin Durant’s contract with the Rockets expires in 2028. The timing would be perfect if the board of governors decided to push the vote through for both Las Vegas and Seattle, which would line up with Charania’s timeline.
Last season, as a member of the Phoenix Suns, I spoke with Durant about the possibility of finishing his career with the Seattle Supersonics.
He replied, “That sounds good, but we will have to see what happens.”
Kevin Durant is currently in his 18th season in the NBA and is 37 years old. If he is still playing in two years, he will be 39, but he could provide himself and the city of Seattle with a full-circle moment. Almost 10 years ago, as a member of the Golden State Warriors, Durant said he wanted to own a piece of the Seattle SuperSonics.
“That’s a great question. I’d love to—absolutely. It’s one thing to say it, and another to really understand how to do it, but I’d jump at the opportunity. Bringing basketball back to Seattle and helping build a winning team would be incredible. I love the game, I enjoy the business side, and I respect the purity of basketball—especially in a city like Seattle. That would be something special. It’s always been a dream of mine to run an NBA franchise, to help lead young players and support their growth as people. That would be an amazing experience.”
Four years ago, I spoke with Jamal Crawford about how Kevin Durant would be perceived if he were able to play another season with the Seattle Sonics.
“The city would be ecstatic. It’d be unbelievable. Not only was he on the team when they left us, but he was going to be the bridge to kinda keep us here,” Crawford said.
“You get a player of this magnitude in your hometown who goes on to be the best player in the world, and he comes back and says, ‘You know what, I am going to play another year here and then go into ownership, they would be over the moon. I think Kevin is a very very bright and smart guy and his basketball intelligence, how to put teams together, how to navigate certain things, his experiences, what worked, what didn’t work, what players do we need, all that stuff that you think about, I think he’d be phenomenal.”