Lure of Las Vegas: NBA Owners To Vote Next Week On Exploring Expansion To Las Vegas For 2028-29
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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — It’s only a matter of time.
That’s what NBA star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander told LVSportsBiz.com last year about the National Basketball Association expanding to the Las Vegas market.
That time is coming soon.
The Las Vegas news market ran bigtime with an ESPN report saying that the NBA’s Board of Governors, the league’s governing panel, will vote next week on exploring expanding into the Las Vegas and Seattle markets. The vote might be news, but the concept of Las Vegas hosting an NBA team is hardly new.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in December the league would explore Las Vegas as an expansion market.
An LVSportsBiz.com story in July 2025 reported on the issues related to NBA expansion in Las Vegas, including Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley’s plan to spend $300 million on upgrading T-Mobile Arena to accommodate a new NBA team. Foley said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman chewed him out about talking too early about an NHL team coming to Las Vegas, so he said he will keep in lips zipped about an NBA team coming to T-Mobile Arena. Foley owns 15 percent of T-Mobile Arena,
The NBA owners will likely approve Las Vegas and Seattle as markets in light of the reported $7 billion to $10 billion bid fee that will be an impressive windfall for the bank accounts of the 30 current teams. Mega basketball names like LeBron James, Magic Johnson and Shaquille O’Neal have all mentioned their interest in having an ownership share of an NBA team in Las Vegas.
The NBA team in Las Vegas could start as early as the 2028-29 season. The MLB Athletics say they plan to open their $2 billion, 33,000-fan, domed stadium on the Strip also in 2028.
Las Vegas will be the smallest market in 2028 to have three major league sports teams — the NHL Golden Knights, the NFL Raiders and the MLB A’s. A fourth team is the WNBA Aces. An NBA team would be a fifth major league franchise in 2028.
Las Vegas is like no other sports market in the U.S. A market of 2.3 million would likely support up to two major league teams. But leagues and potential team investors are easily bedazzled by the 40 million annual visitors in Las Vegas. While tourism dropped 7.5 percent in 2025, visitors are being counted on to buy tickets for sports events in Las Vegas.
The NBA already holds its annual Summer League at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center in July every year, plus holds its final for the in-season NBA Cup tournament at T-Mobile Arena in December.
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