Adam Silver: Expansion “inevitable,” Seattle “on a short list”

Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum has spent the last four NBA Drafts speaking to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver for an interview for The Players’ Tribune. This year was no different. McCollum asked Silver about everything from his views on marijuana, to gambling in sports, to whether teams should or should not visit the White House. At one point, the subject of putting a team back in Seattle was raised, as McCollum claimed he gets asked a lot “as a guy who plays in the Pacific North West.”

Silver’s response seemed to be a bit different, a bit softer, than we’ve heard in the past. While he still tried to quell expectations, he did go so far as to say that he doesn’t believe claims of talent dilution, and even said that expansion was “inevitable” and that Seattle would be on “a short list.” Here are some of the relevant quotes, with the video below.

“I think it’s just a question of when the right time is to seriously start thinking about expansion.”

“I don’t want to put a precise timeline on it, but it’s inevitable at some point we’ll start looking at growth of franchises.”

“Seattle will, no doubt, be on a short list of cities we’ll look at.”

This is yet another message to the city of Seattle that we need an arena plan in place sooner than later and that continuing to kick the can down the road is not an option. While we may be on the short list now, that list could get even shorter if we don’t have our act together when the “inevitable” happens.