By Zyria Jessie

For years, there have been many discussions about the National Basketball Association (NBA)’s plans to have an expansion.

Since the NBA is having a financial crisis due to the 2020 global pandemic, an expansion might be what the NBA needs to bounce back financially and to get their viewership up. When asked about an NBA expansion, the current NBA commissioner, Adam Silver said that an expansion is inevitable and not to expect it anytime soon.

Since having an expansion is not completely out of the picture, many fans have made their desire to have an NBA team in their cities known, but it ultimately comes down to what cities can successfully host an NBA team. So which cities are most deserving of an NBA expansion team?

1.) Seattle, Washington

From 1967 to 2008, the city of Seattle, Washington was home to the championship winning franchise, the Seattle Supersonics. Supersonic fans were able to see prominent NBA players, such as Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton, Ray Allen, and Kevin Durant play for this franchise. Many fans were left heartbroken when the team made their controversial move to Oklahoma City, and got rebranded as the OKC Thunder.

The city of Seattle deserves another shot at hosting an NBA team because they’ve already been successful with hosting one, and Seattle is already home to other successful professional sports franchises.

Those franchises include the National Football League (NFL)’s Seattle Seahawks, the Major League Soccer (MLS)’s Seattle Sounders FC, the Major League Baseball (MLB)’s Seattle Mariners, and the Seattle Storm who recently just won a Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) championship.

2.) Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada is one of the most entertaining cities in the U.S. It generates a lot of money due to it being a major tourist attraction. This is a great market for the NBA, especially when it comes down to finances. Las Vegas was successful in luring major professional sports league teams such as, the Vegas Golden Knights through National Hockey League (NHL) expansion, the Las Vegas Aces through WNBA relocation, and the Las Vegas Raiders through NFL relocation.

Las Vegas wants to host both an NBA team and MLS team, and there have been rumors of the NBA having a similar interest in having a franchise in Las Vegas. Las Vegas also is not foreign to the NBA since it is the home to the NBA’s Summer League, and it hosted an All-Star Game back in 2007.

3.) Kansas City, Missouri 

Kansas City, Missouri is home to the MLB’s Kansas City Royals, The MLS’ Sporting Kansas City soccer club, and the reigning NFL champions, the Kansas City Chiefs. Kansas City is more suitable to host an NBA franchise now than when the city was the home of the Kansas City Kings. When news came out about the Toronto Raptors needing a temporary home in the U.S. due to travel restrictions in Canada, Kansas City made it known that they had an interest in temporarily hosting the team. Although Kansas City lost out on the opportunity to host the Raptors to the city of Tampa Bay, Florida, Kansas City’s efforts will be hard to forget when it comes down to the NBA actually choosing expansion team locations.

4.) Louisville, Kentucky 

Louisville, Kentucky is not the most appealing destination for an NBA expansion team, but it is a city full of basketball lovers. Ever since Louisville’s Kentucky Colonels, a very successful team in the American Basketball Association (ABA) missed out on joining the NBA in the 1976 ABA-NBA merger, the city of Louisville has been trying to bring an NBA franchise to the city.

One argument against Louisville receiving a team is that an NBA franchise will be competing with Kentucky’s college basketball scene, specifically the University of Louisville (U of L).

Current University of Kentucky coach, John Calipari believes that bringing an NBA team to Louisville would be a win-win for both an NBA franchise and college teams, specifically U of L. Because Calipari was coaching at the University of Memphis while his team shared a facility with the Memphis Grizzlies, he saw how the presence of a college team positively affected a small market NBA team, and he believes that the KFC Yum! Center being shared between U of L and an NBA team will work out just as well.

Other cities such as San Diego, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh would be destinations for an NBA expansion team, but they’ll most likely receive an NBA team through relocation first.

Other cites such as Mexico City, Mexico and Honolulu, Hawaii have been thrown out there for possible NBA expansion teams as well. However, many believe that they will be major pushbacks coming from NBA players when it comes to those destinations as players would most likely be concerned about they’re safety, travel to and from games, and being away from their families for extended periods of time. Regardless of fan favorite destinations, the NBA has to make sure they choose the right cities at the right time.

The more teams that get added to the league depreciate the value of the 30 teams already existing. Expansion teams won’t be worth it if the new teams don’t succeed in their new destinations. 

Zyria is a sports writer for La Tonique.