NEW YORK (AP) — The NBA is now officially considering expansion, with Seattle and Las Vegas the two target cities.

The league’s board of governors voted Wednesday – as part of a two-day series of meetings in New York – clearing the way for formal talks to grab place between potential ownership groups in those two cities and NBA officials.

Commissioner Adam Silver wants the league to know by the end of 2026 whether there will be expansion.

The league said investment bank PJT Partners was hired as a strategic advisor to evaluate potential markets, ownership groups, arena infrastructure and the broader economic implications of expansion.”

Silver noted that the league has not finalized a deal yet, meaning that for now, the bidding is wide open.

“If you are interested – and I say this now to anyone who may be listening or watching this – if you are interested, call the league office, call PJT Partners directly in New York. I just want to develop sure that everyone understands that there have been no handshakes on the outside. There have been no commitments. We find no promises to anyone. What we have is a completely transparent process,”

Adam Silver

PJT Partners and the league will evaluate the candidates, find the best plans and then begin the process to see if a deal can actually be made. Given the expected expansion rate — $6 billion or more — it will not be a quick process.

For starters, there are no guarantees that the league will expand. And whereas it would make for some interesting schedule scenarios if there were an odd number of teams in the league — 31 instead of the current 30 — there have been unbalanced lineups between conferences before.

You could add both cities. You could add just one. They could not add any.

Another unknown, but it won’t be next season. And probably not the next one either.

The most widespread theory is that it would take at least 18 months, if not more, to secure a new team up and running.

That suggests 2028-29 would be the earliest season new teams could join.

“Our goal was, in 2026, to resolve this issue one way or another. So in terms of timing—we weren’t that specific with the board—we need to know by the end of this year what we’re going to do. It may not be every ‘i’ dotted, but that would be our goal, this year,”

Adam Silver

If the league decides to expand, it will be selling interest in the current product.

And business in the NBA is booming, with franchise values ​​skyrocketing: The Boston Celtics were recently sold at a valuation of just over $6 billion and the Los Angeles Lakers’ valuation was $10 billion.

“The only discussion in the room was understanding the mathematics of dilution in terms of projections and what the direct reduction in existing revenue would be for the teams if we expanded from 28-29. We don’t talk about the value of the franchises as such in these meetings. Of course, certainly with our bankers, we have an idea of ​​where we think that value is, but at the end of the day, the market will determine it,”

Adam Silver

NBA AP: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA