The lobby of the St. Regis hotel in midtown Manhattan bustled with activity Wednesday afternoon. Bags and suitcases were being collected. A line of black Town Cars waited outside. Former Mariner Alex Rodriguez walked through in his role as a part-owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves. So did Seahawks Chair Jody Allen, potentially for the last time as the chair of the Portland Trail Blazers.
In the not too distant future, these NBA owners' meetings could include an owner representing a team from Seattle who's quickly whisked off to catch a flight back to the West Coast.
Wednesday's NBA events have left the league on the doorstep of a return to the Emerald City.
The NBA board of governors gave commissioner Adam Silver the go-ahead to begin holding formal talks with prospective ownership groups in Seattle and Las Vegas, with the possibility of adding two expansion franchises to the league as soon as the 2028-29 season.
Expansion is not a given, and Silver cautioned that during his news conference Wednesday. But he also acknowledged the potential of what bringing back Seattle and the name SuperSonics" into the NBA portfolio would mean.
"I think part of the issues we'll be looking at is, will we be putting a team in position to be successful in Seattle?" Silver said. "I see no reason standing here today why that shouldn't be the case, but we're going to work through this process."
The owners' vote was unanimous in favor of moving forward on the expansion process. It brings the NBA closer than ever to returning to Seattle since the departure of the Sonics for Oklahoma City after the 2008 season.
The decision allows Silver and his staff to go into the marketplace and begin substantive talks with prospective groups that are interested in bringing franchises to their respective cities.
"There's some other amazing markets out there that could potentially support NBA basketball. The focus this time around was on these two particular markets," Silver said. "Again, I think because of our longtime history in Seattle, the fact that we have the (WNBA's) Storm and the great success in Seattle. In Las Vegas 20 years plus Summer League there. Great success with WNBA Aces in Las Vegas. That's why we're focused on these markets at this time."
The league said it has engaged with investment bank PJT Partners, "as a strategic adviser to evaluate prospective markets, ownership groups, arena infrastructure and the broader economic impacts of expansion." Silver told any interested ownership groups to reach out to the league or PJT and start the discussions.
Though there are expected to be at least two groups vying for Las Vegas, there is only one group that has made its intention known in Seattle to date — One Roof Sports and Entertainment, the Kraken's umbrella group that was unveiled this week.
One Roof CEO Tod Leiweke said the creation of the umbrella brand was part of the plan to show the NBA it had all its affairs in order.
"We're ready. There's not a missing piece," he said. "There's not a leap of faith with the owner, with how we've conducted ourselves, with this arena. We're ready."
The most significant step in the expansion conversation brings an end to five years of wondering if the NBA would finally decide to move forward with this process.
Yet it's still nowhere near a finish line. Silver said the expectation is to have a final decision before the end of the calendar year, but that still could mean three, six or nine more months of waiting for final approval from the board of governors.
There will be numerous conversations with PJT Partners on behalf of the league with any individuals or groups interested in becoming involved. Silver likened it to a first wave before candidates get whittled down to a final targeted group and eventually a decision on moving forward or not.
And there's no certainty about what the price tag is going to be. Asked about the reports of a franchise fee of $7 billion and upward, Silver said specifics regarding expansion fees weren't discussed in the meeting.
"The only discussion in the room was understanding the math around dilution in terms of projections and what's the direct reduction in existing revenues to teams if we were to expand in 2028-29. We did not discuss franchise value, per se," Silver said. "Certainly with our bankers we have a sense of where we think that value exists, but at the end of the day the marketplace will determine that."
Those unanswered questions left Silver cautioning that there are still obstacles to work through to get the required 23 owners on board for final approval. He noted that a final decision could yield two teams, one team or no expansion at all — however unlikely it is that owners would turn down a possible financial windfall.
Despite posing those hesitations, Silver also said he didn't foresee something league-related becoming an impediment to the momentum behind expansion. Rather, his concerns were from outside forces that can't be foreseen causing instability.
"At least standing here today, there's nothing that I see in the relatively short-term future of this league that would indicate in any way that there won't be enormous interest in those markets and that the board will continue to support moving forward — I should say at the right time," Silver said.
The news from New York seemed to buoy hopes back home that the long journey regarding the NBA could finally be close to conclusion.
"For two decades, Washingtonians have mourned the loss of our Sonics. Today’s vote is a milestone in the effort to bring NBA basketball back home. The time is right. The state-of-the-art Climate Pledge Arena already hosts professional basketball and hockey with the Storm, Kraken, and Torrent in front of a dedicated fanbase. And we know we have the best fans in the NBA," Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said in a statement. Ferguson has held two virtual meetings with Silver in the past month, including one Monday.
"Seattle can't wait to welcome our Sonics back home. The city is ready, the fans are ready, the arena is ready, and I could not be more excited about what's next, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson added.
It was a half-decade ago when Silver first mentioned the possibility of expansion. The league was coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic and was forced to finish the previous season playing in a bubble in Florida with no fans in attendance. Revenues were lost. Money needed to be recouped.
But the expansion talks didn't take that next significant move until now. The league had a collective bargaining agreement and media-rights deals to get settled. At the same time, franchise valuations were going through the roof with no apparent ceiling. Holding off on deciding whether to expand and what that possible expansion fee might be was the best financial decision.
All those issues were solved with a new collective bargaining agreement and a lucrative media-rights deal agreed to nearly two years ago. And now expansion, which if formally approved, would put money in the pocket of owners and ultimately return the SuperSonics to Seattle.
The approval vote for Silver to move ahead is the first step and the largest turn of the screw in a drawn-out process that's been full of many small turns. The next would be final approval by the board of governors, which could come as soon as the summer owners’ meetings during NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, depending on how quickly the ownership groups are vetted and settled upon. Based on all the factors Silver laid out, a decision in September might be the more likely scenario.
But a decision is coming. And with it, perhaps, the end of an 18-year wait to know if and when the NBA is coming back.
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