As the sports world grows, so does the number of teams in each league. The National Basketball Association is no different from all the other leagues. Recently, attempts of finding NBA expansion cities have been prevalent for a few years now.
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The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. It is one of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. It is the premier men's professional basketball league in the world. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and can expand its franchise.
NBA expansion
Is the NBA going to expand? The chances are that the association will expand. The National Basketball Association currently has 30 squads playing in the league, but it could easily follow in the footsteps of the NHL and add two expansion teams. Here is the list of the top five potential franchises that make sense.
1. Seattle, Washington
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Seattle is one of the eligible cities for the new NBA teams. It has the most significant selection potential considering that it successfully supported a franchise before. The city supported Seattle Supersonics for 41 years before moving to Oklahoma City and eventually becoming the Thunder.
Rumours also had it that the Sacramento Kings could potentially move to the city even though this did not come to pass. However, the resources, interest, and fan base is there, and this could mean a possibility of the dawning of a new era of Supersonics basketball in 2022.
2. Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is famously known as the Entertainment Capital of the World. However, it is quickly developing into one of the major sports cities in the United States, hence the new NBA expansion probability.
The National Football League's Raider moved to Oakland a year ago. Thus, it would only be logical for the National Basketball Association to explore options in Sin City. In addition, Las Vegas is the host of the National Hockey League franchise, the Golden Knights.
Is Las Vegas getting an NBA team?
It has a possibility of being an NBA team. The city is experiencing rapid growth in terms of population, and with a regular influx of tourists, the stadium would have no problems filling the seats. Additionally, Las Vegas would become a preferred free agency destination for the huge fans of the nightlife.
3. Tampa, Florida
During the COVID-19 pandemic period, Tampa, Florida, was the temporary home for the Toronto Raptors. Unfortunately, the city did not attain a fair NBA try out considering the capacity limitation at the National Basketball Association games due to the pandemic.
Tampa has a relatively smaller market, especially for a city with three franchises, the MLB, NFL and NHL. In terms of attendance, the MLB is consistently at the bottom of the league, while the NHL's Lightning and NFL's Buccaneers have earned great success in the recent past.
Even though Florida is already home to two National Basketball Association franchises, it was a temporary home for the Toronto Raptors is a positive sign that at least the association is open to considering it as an NBA expansion city in 2022.
4. San Diego, California
Will San Diego get an NBA team? San Diego is one of the probable expansion teams NBA since it is the largest media market in the country that does not currently have its own National Basketball Association franchise. The city has a population of close to 1.5 million and is the eighth-largest city.
San Diego leaders are in the process of developing plans for a new arena which shows a likelihood of bringing a major professional sports team in the future. However, the city struggled to maintain the NFL franchise, thus losing it to Los Angeles. Nevertheless, even with a past failure, San Diego might get a National Basketball Association franchise in the future.
5. Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville could be considered for the NBA future expansion, considering that the city does not have any major professional sports team. However, it has a metro population of more than a million. It also has a major college stadium, the KFC Yum Centre, hosting the franchise. The stadium has a capacity of more than 22,000.
More importantly, Louisville city and Kentucky State have many passionate basketball fans. Kentucky is already the host to two of the most popular college basketball programs. In addition, it is rumoured that Louisville was considered the temporary home for Toronto Raptors before opting for Tampa. This was an indicator that the association has its eyes on Louisville as a potential city for it
The NBA leagues suffered massive financial losses during the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, the league is looking into the potential economic benefits of expansion. All signs seem to be pointing to 2022 as the target year for the NBA expansion, and above are the potential franchises that make sense.
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