Over the years, the NBA has expanded the league to a total of 30 teams by the year 2016. By doing so, they managed to add 5 teams to the league in the 1990’s, with all of the big moves Adam Silver has made since becoming the commissioner of the NBA, it would be the icing on the cake for him to add more teams to the NBA. Adding 2 more teams to the league would give the NBA the same amount of teams in their league as one of the biggest sports in America with the NFL. The popularity of basketball has continued to rise, TV By the Numbers stated that, “[ABC] drew the highest metered-market rating ever for an NBA game [NBA Finals Game 7, 2016] on the network (18.9), topping the previous high of 18.2 for Game 7 of the 2010 Finals.” Becoming one of the biggest sports in the world, it may not be a bad move for the league to bring in some more teams. If the NBA decides to expand once again, here are the top cities that should be in consideration to own an NBA team.
5. Pittsburgh
A great sports city, home of the 6x Champion Pittsburgh Steelers and 2016 NHL Champion Pittsburgh Penguins; only 13 cities have sports teams from all 4 of the major league sports (MLB, NHL, NFL & NBA). Pittsburgh is only lacking in an NBA team to become the 14th city to have that honor. The fans in Pittsburgh are some of the most die hard fans in the country, they haven’t expressed their desire to own an NBA team; with Philadelphia having the 76ers, as well as a team in all of the major league sports, it could also bring a great rivalry to the NBA to have two different teams in Pennsylvania face off each year. The possibilities are endless for this city when it comes to sports, so it might be the perfect time to bring the “Black and Yellow” to the NBA.
4. Montreal
Since the NBA’s popularity has been growing so rapidly, they have one team from outside of the United States (Toronto Raptors) and they’ve scheduled 2 games per year to be played in Mexico City. Now that the NBA has become international, it’s only right for them to bring another team from outside of the US into the league. The Memphis Grizzlies, formerly known as the Vancouver Grizzlies, were the only other NBA team outside of the Raptors that wasn’t a US team. In 2000, the Grizzlies would move to Memphis and the NBA hasn’t seen another international team since. This would be another great move for Adam Silver, it’s highly possible that as the NBA continues to grow more teams will come to the league and many more of them will be from outside of the country. If the opportunity arises, Silver would be wise to jump right on it and bring a team back to Vancouver or give Montreal their first NBA team.
3. Louisville
When the topic of basketball in America is brought up, the state of Kentucky is always highly notable. Having the 3x men’s national champion Louisville Cardinals and 8x men’s national champion Kentucky Wildcats, Kentucky is one of the biggest heart and souls of basketball. It would only bring the state more pride to own an official NBA team. Their fanbases only have risen every year behind coaches Rick Pitino and John Callipari, it may not be at the top of their priorities to bring another legendary coach to Kentucky right away if they are given an NBA team; but just to be able to represent basketball at its biggest stage would mean more than enough to these extremely dedicated fans.
2. Las Vegas
A lot of the sports world looks down on gambling to a great deal, but as time has progressed it’s taken a lot more acceptance to Las Vegas’s most notable attraction as a city. With more and more tourists coming to Vegas, it’ll only give Sin City a lot more revenue by owning a sports team. People visiting the city would attend games as another attraction that Vegas has to offer and give Vegas another identity outside of being the gambling centerpiece of the USA. If sports commissioners all can make the idea of gambling not a bad thing, because gambling is so big in sports and the idea of “rigging” would all circulate back to Vegas, it could make a huge increase in profit for the NBA. Sports need to make rules around the “rigging” progress where gambling is still accepted outside of the participants in the sports, so one of the biggest and most well known cities in America can finally see a major league team play in the MGM Grand.
1. Seattle
After being spoiled with an NBA team from 1967 all the way until 2008, Seattle’s been 8 years removed from their legendary franchise that is now the Oklahoma City Thunder. OKC hasn’t done much to acknowledge the SuperSonics franchise that they took over in 2008, they don’t hang any of their banners in Chesapeake Arena or bring up much about the earlier players and coaches that paved the way for them and the success of the franchise. One of the most loyal fanbases, that is the home of the 2014 Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks, they’ve been on a huge push to force the NBA to bring them a team back to their city. When the NBA decides to have a new change of scenery, it wouldn’t be a bad move to go back to the basics and move back to Seattle. Seattle already has fans that are ready to attend and watch all games regardless of how successful they become. The atmosphere in Seattle is unmatched with any other city, their “12th man” in football is a convincing enough example of how much joy and pandemonium sports brings to the citizens of Seattle. It hasn’t been discussed much yet if the NBA will make more additions or relocate any teams in the near future, but when the time does come (and it will) the Seattle SuperSonics will have their team back…..the only issue is finding out how long they’ll have to wait to finally get their franchise back.
