Knicks Coach Mike Brown Hopes Las Vegas, Seattle Both Get NBA Teams; NBA’s Global Reach On Display For Cup Games In Vegas
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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — The NBA is here.
And when we say, “here,” we mean the Association has set up shop at T-Mobile Arena to stage its in-season tournament climax with four semifinal teams — Orlando Magic vs. New York Knicks at 2:30 PM Saturday followed by San Antonio Spurs vs Oklahoma City Thunder at 6 PM. The winners play Tuesday for the NBA Cup championship.
Each of the Cup winning team’s players take home nearly $531,000, an incredible windfall for playing on a team involved in a tourney designed to perk up fan interest in the NBA in the autumn months at the start of the season.
The last time the NBA was in Las Vegas, the weather was quite different. It was July when the annual NBA Summer League was held at Thomas & Mack Center where the league turns UNLV’s basketball gyms into the epicenter for the professional basketball world.
There’s typically a buzz when the NBA comes to Las Vegas because it always raises the specter of if and when the league will place an NBA team in the Las Vegas market. Knicks coach Mike Brown likes the idea of the NBA having a team in Las Vegas (and Seattle, too.) In response to an LVSportsBiz.com question, Brown offered his comments on Vegas:
LVSports Biz.com also asked Knicks players Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns about their impressions of Las Vegas as a host town for the NBA Cup and as a potential host city for a team.
Brown:
Brunson:
Towns:
Vegas has been an amazing host not only for the Cup but for Summer League for years and years and years. The town loves basketball. Vegas has been great with the hospitality they have shown to many players, including myself, to start our careers. You know, they obviously have the fan base to do it. So, we’ll see. We’ll see what the future holds for Vegas and the NBA. — Knicks player Karl-Anthony Towns
Perhaps one day the NBA will expand to Las Vegas.
But Commissioner Adam Silver’s talk at the Summer League in July gave the impression that the Association is focused more on expanding its brand via an NBA-backed European basketball league of about 16 teams based in major cities like London, Rome, Madrid and Athens for action as early as autumn 2027.
The NBA Cup also attracts global media, with photographers and videographers from Spain to China, where the NBA already has a strong foothold. The NBA has followed a strategy of growing its brand via worldwide expansion. Las Vegas will always be here.
For the record, Silver said in July the NBA would conduct an in-depth expansion analysis, but timelines remain unknown with expansion in Europe up first.
It should be noted that Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley said a year ago he’s willing to spend $300 million on upgrading T-Mobile Arena to accommodate any potential NBA franchise.
For now, Las Vegas can enjoy the Magic playing the Knicks and Spurs and Thunder facing each other Saturday.
As for a Las Vegas-based NBA team, expect the MLB A’s to open their stadium on the Strip in 2028 before the NBA ever potentially approves expansion for Sin City.
The NBA Summer League and the NBA Cup can give Las Vegas a taste of big league basketball for now.
PSA
