Adam Silver says multiple groups interested in NBA expansion in Seattle

Tim Booth, The Seattle Times on Jul 15, 2026

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LAS VEGAS — Perhaps it is posturing. Perhaps it’s a way to try and draw up competition where it seems there’s none.

But if you take NBA commissioner Adam Silver at face value, his words Tuesday night make it seem like the pathway toward an NBA expansion team in Seattle is anything but straightforward.

Speaking after the latest NBA Board of Governors meetings, Silver said that not all the groups interested in potential expansion teams in Seattle and Las Vegas have made themselves publicly known to this point of the process.

That seems noteworthy because at least in Seattle only One Roof Sports and Entertainment has openly expressed its intention on being involved in the expansion conversations.

So if Silver is correct, there are groups out there quietly lurking that could lead to multiple entities vying for the chance at bringing the NBA back to Seattle. And with that could come the jockeying by multiple groups that's already taking place in Las Vegas but yet to emerge in Seattle.

“Most of the groups that are interested have not been public. And any group that has chosen to be public is their decision. I wouldn't conclude that because there aren't other public groups coming forward that therefore there isn’t other interest in Seattle. There is,” Silver said.

Domestic expansion was part of the discussions among the owners during their meetings over the last two days here in the desert during NBA Summer League. There were updates, but no closer to a vote one way or another on the idea of adding one or two teams.

Silver said he remains optimistic that the league will be able to stay with its plans of a decision coming before the end of the calendar year. The next scheduled meeting for the owners and likely the next update on expansion is in September. An additional meeting could be scheduled for later in the fall if the league decides September is too soon for holding a vote about expansion.

“I’m still hopeful this process would be wrapped up by year end and I still feel we are very much on track,” Silver said.

It was this meeting a year ago was when Silver said the expansion exploration by the league was officially starting. At that time, the league said it was open to all suitors, even though Seattle and Las Vegas were the clear front-runners.

This past March in New York, it was made official that only Seattle and Las Vegas were going to be considered by the league for this round of expansion. Silver said he expected robust interest in both markets and while that’s certainly become the case in Las Vegas, it’s remained — publicly — only one group in Seattle showing the interest and the wherewithal to potentially see this process through.

Whether any of the other groups Silver referenced decide to make themselves public between now and the next owners meetings in September will be one of the next steps in a timeline that continues to drag on in incremental steps.

Silver said one of the key discussions at this meeting was who would be included in the potential ownership groups in both Seattle and Las Vegas.

There were discussions both at committee level and before the board from Paul Taubman, our outside banker, about how the process is going, what he's hearing from the groups," Silver said. "As I said earlier, price is one component, but I think there was as much interest in who the groups would be, what the overall composition of ownership and, of course, where they would play."

A yet-to-be-revealed group could end up being the best option for the league and for Seattle, but it comes with some inherent issues that would need to be solved and make the situation more complicated.

Primarily is money. Not only would a group need to pay whatever the expansion fee from the league ends up being, but then comes the question of where would they play? Would they play at Climate Pledge Arena as a tenant? Would they have the financial means to purchase land and privately fund another arena somewhere in the Seattle region?

Those two costs combined — expansion fee and arena — could potentially push $10 billion or more. And that's a number the economically might not make sense for even the wealthiest of ownership groups.

That's where One Roof has an advantage by gaining a controlling interest in Climate Pledge earlier this year through the private-public partnership with the city that led to its construction.

But it's clear by Silver's words on Tuesday that's not enough of an advantage to where the league is only considering what One Roof has to present.

The other side to this saga is what is going on in Las Vegas where four groups have publicly come out expressing their intent on being involved in the expansion talks. The last two seem the most viable with one led by Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley and another led by former NBA executive and Phoenix Suns owner Jerry Colangelo.

Silver intimated that there were other groups also not publicly known interested in Las Vegas but didn't hide that the robust interest was "encouraging."

"We've got a ways to go still in terms of those discussions with interested parties, but I'm optimistic about the future here, Silver said.