National Basketball Commissioner Adam Silver spoke with reporters about NBA expansion on Tuesday, putting Las Vegas and Seattle at the center of the discussion. Silver said he hopes to have more final decisions about expansion by the end of 2026.
"There was not as much discussion around Seattle as there was around Las Vegas," Silver said about talks at the NBA Board of Governors meetings. "Las Vegas, it's not even clear what the site would be, let alone the arena yet. And therefore it's a much longer timeline before we can throw the ball up for NBA basketball."
However, despite Seattle having an NBA-ready arena that could be ready in "five weeks" to host an NBA team according to Silver, ESPN reported that Las Vegas is "a little bit further ahead
than Seattle is" in terms of expansion considerations.
Among other considerations, one factor governors are considering is what an NBA arena would look like in Las Vegas.
"There was some discussion on how the Sphere has impacted Las Vegas ... and what it has meant economically for Las Vegas," Silver said when describing what an arena could look like for the Southern Nevada city, adding that one possibility would be building a "modern entertainment palace."
The T-Mobile Arena was also among the possible site locations in discussion, Silver said; however, it would need "some significant improvements" before it would be NBA-ready.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Could Las Vegas get an NBA team? ESPN says it could be the next
