Report: NBA expansion to Seattle may not happen until at least 2025
Friday night's Golden State Warriors-Sacramento Kings preseason game will be the first NBA contest in Seattle since 2008, and it may be nearly another decade before the league considers an expansion team in the Emerald City.
Prospective Seattle ownership groups that have met with NBA officials were told expansion may not happen until 2025 at the earliest, sources told ESPN's Brian Windhorst. That could line up with the negotiation of a new league TV contract, with the current one expiring after the 2024-25 season.
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The report comes days after the NHL went a step closer to placing a franchise in Seattle. That effort is being led by a group hoping to begin play in 2020 at a renovated version of the Sonics' former home, Key Arena.
The NHL arena developments were not discussed at the fall NBA board of governors meeting, sources told Windhorst.
Beyond the expansion possibility, a franchise wishing to relocate could target Seattle. While ESPN reports that some lawyers believe there's a lease window for the Memphis Grizzlies to leave Tennessee in 2021, owner Robert Pera has pledged to keep the team in Memphis.
The Sonics departed Seattle to become the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008 after former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz sold the team to Clay Bennett.