One reason the NBA isn’t yet prepared to dive head-long into expansion talks is that a potential Celtics sale could reset the market, sources tell ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, Kevin Pelton, and Brian Windhorst. If the Celtics set a new record for the highest sale price ever for an NBA team, it would only increase the price tag for incoming expansion franchises, as ESPN’s trio notes.
Commissioner Adam Silver recently stated that the NBA is “not quite ready” to move forward on the expansion process, though he left the door open for those discussions to happen later on in the 2024/25 league year.
With the NBA continuing to drag its heels on expansion, league sources and people connected to potential bidding groups are viewing the 2027/28 season as the target date for when one or more expansion teams could begin playing, with the ’26/27 campaign considered an increasingly unrealistic – albeit not impossible – option, according to Bontemps, Pelton, and Windhorst.
Based on the growing valuations of NBA franchises, it’s not unrealistic to project that a pair of new teams could net the league $10 billion combined – or even more than that – in expansion fees, ESPN’s reporters suggest.
While some current NBA team owners are wary of further diluting their share of the league’s revenue by slicing off two more pieces of a “pie” currently being shared 30 ways, expansion fee payments (which don’t have to be shared with the players’ union) exceeding $300MM apiece could help sway those ownership groups, as Bontemps, Pelton, and Windhorst point out. Additionally, the $76 billion media rights deal negotiated by the NBA earlier this year has assuaged some owners’ concerns about sharing revenues with 31 partners instead of 29, the ESPN trio adds.
Here are a few more items of note from ESPN’s in-depth FAQ on the possibility of expansion:
This offseason, a pair of former Philadelphia 76ers players have decided to continue their professional career overseas. Following recent developments, one of t
As the 2024-25 college basketball season approaches, insiders and reporters are showing up to practices to watch some of the top talent in the country. One pros
Jayson Tatum was the subject of controversy at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Despite being a top player for the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics, Tatum was bench
Plans for a $10 billion NBA-ready arena-hotel project slated for a plot of land just south of the Las Vegas Strip have stalled. Oak View Group’s plan to