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Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league is still “gauging the level of interest” among current team owners about establishing a new team in Las Vegas.
The NBA is still working on an economic analysis of the Las Vegas market, Silver told media before Tuesday’s Knicks-Spurs NBA Cup championship game at T-Mobile Arena.
At the presser, LVSportsBiz.com was prepared to ask Silver three questions:
Is starting a European league a higher priority than expanding into Las Vegas?
What did Silver think about Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley’s $300 million plan to upgrade T-Mobile Arena for a potential NBA team?
Will the NBA Cup be staying or leaving Las Vegas after tonight’s game?
The NBA did not pick us to ask any questions during the presser, as Silver chatted about topical news items asked by NBA media like the gambling arrests that rocked the league, the European league expansion scheduled for Oct. 2027 and the LA Clippers and star player Chris Paul having an ugly divorce.
LVSportsBiz.com forwarded our questions to NBA media staffers to see if we can get answers for our readers and the Las Vegas community.
The league looks like it will expand with the European initiative before Las Vegas and Seattle get teams.
As for Foley’s T-Mobile Arena upgrade, the VGK owner probably will do the improvements with or without an NBA team. Foley owns 12.5 percent of T-Mobile Arena. The two companies that combined forces to build the arena in 2016 — Los Angeles-based AEG and MGM Resorts International — own the other 87.5 percent.
And will the NBA Cup in-season tournament semis and final return to Las Vegas? Maybe or maybe not. The NBA could move to other locations, but Las Vegas is the king of hosting one-off events so Vegas will always be on the NBA radar. The NBA already holds its annual Summer League with all 30 teams at Thomas & Mack Center at the UNLV campus.
As Silver noted, the NBA knows Las Vegas.
A new MLB team and a new domed, 30,000-seat baseball stadium on the Strip are scheduled to come online in 2028. The hunch here at LVSportsBiz.com is that Silver and his NBA staffers will want to see how the Las Vegas market supports the A’s and the MLB product for a few seasons before expanding into Las Vegas. With NHL (2017), NFL (2020) and MLB (slated for 2028) already in Vegas, the timeline looks like an NBA team in Vegas in 2030 at the earliest. But a timeline is not officially set.
Silver said during his presser he thought Las Vegas could sustain an NBA team.
The Knicks and Spurs drew a big crowd. An NBA-announced sellout crowd of 18,609 watched the Knicks take the NBA Cup title with a 124-113 win, with New York’s OG Anunoby scoring 28 points and NBA MVP candidate Jalen Brunson adding 25 points.
Victor Wembanyama scored 18 points for the Spurs, which were led by Dylan Harper’s 21 points.
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