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Speaking at a press conference in London, incoming NBA Commissioner Adam Silver reiterated that the NBA would like to return to Seattle some day. Check out the following Chris Daniels' tweet.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>NBA Commissioner-to-be Adam Silver just now on return to <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Seattle&src=hash">#Seattle</a> "Under the right circumstances, we'd love to see a team back in Seattle."</p>— Chris Daniels (@ChrisDaniels5) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisDaniels5/statuses/423898772956278784">January 16, 2014</a></blockquote>
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The key phrase in this statement is, of course, "under the right circumstances". There's no time line or guarantee with that statement, but at least he didn't say "I just don't see that happening in the foreseeable future."
Of course, David Stern had to chime in.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Stern remarked after Silver's <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Seattle&src=hash">#Seattle</a> comment...Ah - he's sounding like a Commissioner...which drew laughs. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NBA&src=hash">#NBA</a></p>— Chris Daniels (@ChrisDaniels5) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisDaniels5/statuses/423899147000107008">January 16, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Meanwhile, Mark Cuban raised the issue in an ESPN article, which you can read here. He was interviewed about his thoughts on the upcoming transition. Here is a passage.
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I don't think it'll be hard (speaking of Silver's task list)," Cuban said, "and that's a compliment to David. There aren't 50 things that you have to fix. What's gonna happen with the next TV deal? What's gonna happen with the franchises that need new arenas? What's gonna happen with expansion? There are challenges, but they're obvious. David has left things in a good position."
One interesting thing from that quote is about the TV deal. This seems to imply that it WON'T be done before David Stern leaves, as some pundits suggested a week or so ago. Just the fact that an owner is asking about expansion is a good sign for us, in my opinion.
What's really great is that this was Little Napoleon's last press conference as commissioner. Let me say that again. This is Stern's LAST PRESS CONFERENCE as NBA commissioner.
UPDATE
Here is a link to video with Silver's comments. It's quick, but he was smiling.