NBA has target year for expansion teams to enter league

ESPN's Tim Bontemps, Kevin Pelton and Brian Windhorst report that the NBA is targeting the 2027-28 season as the target year for expansion teams to enter the league.

The report comes after NBA commissioner Adam Silver said at a Board of Governors meeting last week that the league was "not quite ready" but had plans to address expansion "this season."

ESPN described the NBA's process of introducing expansion teams as "fluid and uncertain" but cited league sources as saying that the wheels were in motion.

"With Silver not yet fully committing to expanding and keeping the timeline for even beginning the process undefined, both league sources and people who are working on forming bidding groups are targeting the 2027-28 season. Though starting in 2026-27 isn't impossible, it has become more unrealistic."

The process will reportedly include several phases, from deciding whether to expand the pool of cities, selecting ownership groups for a bidding process and allowing the new franchises to build up their infrastructure.

Seattle and Las Vegas not locks?

While Seattle and Las Vegas have been earmarked as frontrunners for years, the report noted that "it should not be assumed the NBA will select them" as the rumored expansion teams.

The report added that, unlike in 2002, when the NBA didn't consider any other cities for the 30th team but Charlotte (which lost its team to New Orleans that year), the league faces a more complex situation. The Bobcats, later renamed the Hornets, were introduced in the 2004-05 season, less than two years after they won a bid for the franchise.

However, ESPN believes the turnaround time — from an ownership group winning a bid to entering the league — will be slower ahead of the 2027-28 targeted year.

In July, Silver described expansion as "the agenda" of the league after it had completed two other vital tasks: agreeing to a new CBA and securing a new TV rights deal.