Adam Silver expects NBA to take next steps toward expansion this summer

OKLAHOMA CITY — NBA expansion has felt like a pot of water sitting on the NBA’s stovetop for a long time, with the heat kept on low. Everyone knows that eventually the heat will be cranked up, the water will boil, and there will be cooking, but so far, everything is just being kept warm.

This July, expect the NBA to turn up the heat.

That was the takeaway from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, speaking to the media before Game 1 of the NBA Finals. He was asked about the owners’ temperature on expansion.

“I’d say the current sense is we should be exploring it,” Silver said. “I don’t think it’s automatic because it depends on your perspective on the future of the league. As I’ve said before, expansion, in a way, is selling equity in the league. If you believe in the league, you don’t necessarily want to add partners. On the other hand, we recognize there are underserved markets in the United States and elsewhere…

“We have an owners’ meeting in July in Las Vegas. It will be on the agenda to take the temperature of the room. We have committees that are already talking about it. But my sense is at that meeting, they’re going to give direction to me and my colleagues at the league office that we should continue to explore it.”

That exploration will be a more formal process, although Silver, always cautious in his public statements, wouldn’t go beyond that.

“What I expect is if a decision is made that there should be further exploration by the league office and presumably a committee of team owners, it would be more of a formal process,” Silver said.

What that likely means is the league starts meeting with potential ownership groups.

“There’s been no lack of interest. Certainly I’ve gotten a lot of unsolicited calls,” Silver said. “I essentially have said to people from several different cities, We’re just not engaging in that process right now. I want to be fair to everyone. So I don’t want to have meeting with some and not others.

“So if we were to say yes, we’re now going to move into a more formal exploratory phase, we would take those meetings and in addition likely we would engage with outside advisors who would look at markets, look at economic opportunities and media opportunities, et cetera.”

The expectation in league circles is that the NBA will ultimately move forward with expansion, with two teams: Seattle and, most likely, Las Vegas. Silver and the league office had wanted to wait for a new CBA to be in place (ensuring stability) as well as the new television deal finalized before moving forward. Those are now done.

The NBA also waited for the sale of the Boston Celtics — with the franchise value in that sale set at $6 billion — before moving forward, so the league could have an idea what it could ask for in expansion fees. The sale of the Portland Trail Blazers, a process that has just begun, will also be factored into that expansion price tag.

Expect the heat to be turned up on the expansion process this summer when the owners get together in Las Vegas. Maybe then everything will move toward a boil.