Seattle, WA
NBA to explore expansion opportunities in Seattle and Las Vegas after Board of Governors votes in favor of move
The NBA took its first major step toward bringing back the Seattle Supersonics on Wednesday. The league’s Board of Governors reportedly voted in favor of the NBA exploring expansion opportunities in both Seattle and Las Vegas, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
The vote was expected, as Charania reported in mid-March that the league would put the issue up to a vote at its Board of Governors meeting later in the month.
The vote does not guarantee Seattle and Las Vegas will receive expansion teams in the near-future, but it allows the league to explore those opportunities. Given the amount of money at stake — Charania reported bids could be in the $7 billon to $10 billion range — it should not come as a major surprise that the Board of Governors allowed the league to move forward with the process.
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There are still a few more steps the league and Board of Governors must take before officially expanding to 32 teams. Wednesday’s vote was just the first step in the process. The league and Board of Governors will likely vote to finalize the motion later in the year, Charania reported in mid-March. He also stated that momentum was moving toward expansion being approved, as a “growing number of owners are believed to support” the idea. In order for the motion to pass, 23 of the league’s 30 owners need to vote in favor of it.
If the league is allowed to continue down this road, the NBA would likely look to add both teams to the league ahead of the 2028-29 season. If Seattle and Las Vegas both receive teams, they would be put in the Western Conference, which would lead to some team re-alignment around the league.
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For Las Vegas, the news opens up the possibility for the first-ever NBA franchise in the city. Las Vegas has shown the ability to support professional sports teams in recent year, with the NHL’s Golden Knights, WNBA’s Aces and NFL’s Raiders already in the city and MLB’s Athletics on the way.
Seattle hasn’t had an NBA franchise since the Supersonics left to become the Oklahoma City Thunder after the 2007-08 NBA season.
The NBA last expanded in 2004, when the Charlotte Bobcats — now the Hornets — started play.
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Thanks to Carrie Brown for the westward view of our Saturday night sunset. The high today hit 68 at the airport – eight degrees above normal – but nowhere near the record for this date, which was 89 degrees back in 2016. The forecast suggests two more days of partly sunny, almost-70-degree weather, before the chance of rain returns.
CHICAGO (AP) — The struggling New York Mets placed former Seattle Mariners second baseman/designated hitter Jorge Polanco on the 10-day injured list on Saturday with a right wrist contusion.
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The move was made retroactive to Wednesday, a day after Polanco went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in a 2-1 loss at the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 32-year-old Polanco is batting .179 (10 for 56) with a homer and two RBIs in his first season with New York, which has lost nine straight.
“When doctors first took a look at him, it looked like he got hit by a pitch when he didn’t,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “In talking to him, it was just a couple of swings that he took that night. … He didn’t think much of it, but just got worse the following day.
“So you just got to let it calm down a little bit and then we’ll go from there. But we don’t have a timetable for how long this is going to last.”
Polanco, who signed a two-year, $40 million contract with the Mets in December, also has been dealing with an ankle issue.
“He was trending in the right direction,” Mendoza said of the ankle injury. “It’s definitely going to help, obviously now with him being shut down. But the biggest thing now is that we’ve got to take care of that wrist.”
Polanco spent the previous two seasons with the Mariners, who acquired him in a February 2024 trade with the Minnesota Twins.
Polanco struggled during his first season with Seattle in 2024, hitting just .213 with 16 homers in 118 games while playing through a knee injury that didn’t become public knowledge until after the season.
But after the Mariners somewhat surprisingly brought him back for a one-year contract in 2025, Polanco rebounded to hit .265 with 26 homers and an .821 OPS in 138 games last season. He then added three homers during Seattle’s playoff run, along with a 15th-inning walkoff single in Game 5 of the American League Division Series that sent the Mariners to their first ALCS in 24 years.
Seattle Sports staff made additions to this post.
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