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Adam Silver recently spoke on the topic of expansion and his answer was basically "sorry, Seattle, we just can't be with you... right now."
"Seattle is a wonderful market. It would be very additive to the league to have a team there," Silver said in an interview this week with ESPN. "But we're not planning on expanding right now so it's not a function of price."
The article goes on to say that the NBA is still concerned with the arena situation in Milwaukee, essentially giving it, like Sacramento, a deadline of 2017 to get something done (that's when the lease at the Bradley Center expires). The NBA has deemed their arena not up to their standards, and owner Herb Kohl is selling off parts of the team in order to try and pay for a new one. He has warned investors only to bid if they have no interest in moving the team. "I and the owners will look at not only dilution of economic opportunities with one more partner to divide national and international money but also dilution of talent."
The ESPN article basically says that we will be used for leverage again, but that ultimately we will wind up with a team in Seattle. Silver wants us to know that we are not forgotten, and that the Sacramento situation was not the NBA shutting us out. "[The Kings decision] should not have been received as a no to Seattle," Silver said. "There's no doubt if we were prepared to expand to Seattle right now, we'd get an enormous price for the franchise."
So still we wait, and hope for a resolution in Milwaukee. The upside is, more #GreenAndGoldMondays at Oskar's!
