The Spun: NBA Is Expected To Give 2 New Cities Expansion Teams.
https://thespun.com/more/top-stories/nba...sion-teams

No other cities mentioned as candidates, but a relocated Portland might be headed to the Eastern conference. Minnesota, Memphis, and New Orleans would probably want to keep the Blazers in the West just to keep alive the chance of them moving to the East.

Your link just names Canzano, a Portland columnist, nothing regarding the Trailblazers.

More importantly, the estate of Paul Allen is still being settled by his sister and the final assets which she will deal with are the Blazers and Seahawks. Jody Allen has been reported to like football over basketball, but she has never gone on the record regarding a sale and a move. Remember, the estate controls the arena too.

New Orleans is a more likely team to move.

If the NBA adds expansion teams in Seattle and Las Vegas -- and that's a big if, it's just speculation at this point -- then IMO no existing team will move. Those are the two best markets for relocation by far, and if you take them off the table, then there's really nowhere to go that makes sense.

People speculate about the Timberwolves moving because the new owners have no connection to Minnesota and it's a hockey state anyway, but if Seattle and Las Vegas are unavailable, then there's no realistic option that would be a better situation for that team.

New Orleans is a tough market, but the owner also owns the Saints and is from Louisiana, and as with Minnesota there's no place that would be an obvious improvement. Nobody is going to move a billion-dollar business unless they can clearly make more money in the new location.

(05-26-2022 11:02 AM)Wedge Wrote:  If the NBA adds expansion teams in Seattle and Las Vegas -- and that's a big if, it's just speculation at this point -- then IMO no existing team will move. Those are the two best markets for relocation by far, and if you take them off the table, then there's really nowhere to go that makes sense.

People speculate about the Timberwolves moving because the new owners have no connection to Minnesota and it's a hockey state anyway, but if Seattle and Las Vegas are unavailable, then there's no realistic option that would be a better situation for that team.

New Orleans is a tough market, but the owner also owns the Saints and is from Louisiana, and as with Minnesota there's no place that would be an obvious improvement. Nobody is going to move a billion-dollar business unless they can clearly make more money in the new location.

This ^^^^^

I’d LOVE to see this happen! The ONLY plausible relocation city IMO is St. Louis.

The NBA wouldn't consider a move back to Vancouver?

(05-26-2022 09:45 AM)Renandpat Wrote:  Your link just names Canzano, a Portland columnist, nothing regarding the Trailblazers.

There's a tweet embedded in the article about Mackenzie Scott (ex wife of Jeff Bezos) being interested in purchasing the Blazers, but Seattle is apparently off the table for relocation.

I really don't see the Blazers leaving Portland. It's not the greatest NBA market, but it has a strong enough fan base in Portland and Portland DMA is still growing.

The Blazers' ownership owns Moda Center. The arena would be worth far less if there was no NBA team in it, and the team would be worth less without the arena revenue supplementing the basketball revenue.

There's also inherent value in being the only major pro team in a reasonably-large market. Less competition for media attention and corporate sponsorships, more loyalty from local fans even at times when the team isn't successful. That, in addition to the Blazers owning their arena while the Suns don't, explains why the Blazers are worth more than the Suns even though Phoenix's metro area has about twice as many people.

It's always possible that some billionaire wants a team for "their" city so badly that they will move it there even if it makes the franchise much less valuable, and it's always possible that an owner would move or sell a team out of spite even if it meant a loss in value. The Sonics left Seattle and the Oilers left Houston, and both franchises would be worth far more today had they not moved.

So it's not totally impossible that a team owner would flush hundreds of millions in value down the toilet just to move a team. But it's still very unlikely.

For the reasons above, I don't see Portland relocating. Let's say they do add Seattle and Las Vegas, I presume Seattle will find a way to be the SuperSonics and Las Vegas may resurrect the "Silvers" name from the CBA or come up with something else.

At 32 teams, the NBA will likely follow the NHL divisional format with 2 conferences of 2 divisions each.

Eastern Conference:
Atlantic Division: Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, Miami Heat, New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards
Midwest Division: Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves
> It was a toss-up between sending ATL/CHA or MIA/ORL to the MW Division.

Western Conference:
Central Division: Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans, Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, Utah Jazz
Pacific Division: Golden State Warriors, Las Vegas Silvers, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, Seattle SuperSonics

^

The Central is (and has been) an Eastern Conference division. The Midwest is (and has been) a Western Conference Division.

I guess part of it will come down to how wedded the NBA is to an 82-game schedule. At 32 teams a 4-3-2 schedule is no longer possible, as that yields 84 games. That's why I think we'll continue to see six divisions:

Pacific - Golden State, LA Clippers, LA Lakers, Seattle*, Sacramento
Mountain - Denver, Las Vegas*, Portland, Phoenix*, Utah
Southwest - Dallas, Houston, Memphis, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, San Antonio
Southeast - Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, Orlando, Washington
Atlantic - Boston, Brooklyn, New York, Philadelphia, Toronto
Central - Chicago, Cleveland Detroit, Indiana, Milwaukee, Minnesota

Long-term, Seattle and Phoenix (or Las Vegas) will ultimately switch divisions. There actually is historical precedence with this when Orlando and Charlotte joined the league. You may even see Las Vegas even play a season in the Eastern Conference. Phoenix historically has played in the Pacific, but Las Vegas is closer to the rest of the division.

The NBA needs to scrap the divisions all together. They haven't been used the last few years for playoff seeding, so kind of pointless to have them.

(05-31-2022 01:08 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  The NBA needs to scrap the divisions all together. They haven't been used the last few years for playoff seeding, so kind of pointless to have them.

I agree. Two 16 team conferences after expansion. You still play everybody in the league. Play the opposite conference home and home, that's 32 games. In your own conference you play 10 of the 15 teams 3 times (30 games). Then your 5 closest geographic rivals 4 times (20 games). There's your 82 game schedule with your closest rivals maintained with every other team visiting your city while you visit every city.

(05-31-2022 01:08 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  The NBA needs to scrap the divisions all together. They haven't been used the last few years for playoff seeding, so kind of pointless to have them.

I agree but they won’t. Playoff regional interest might die.

(06-01-2022 09:05 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  

(05-31-2022 01:08 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  The NBA needs to scrap the divisions all together. They haven't been used the last few years for playoff seeding, so kind of pointless to have them.

I agree but they won’t. Playoff regional interest might die.

It hasn't seemed to hurt the last few years.

Back to the Blazers, Woj reports that Phil Knight and a Dodgers co-owner have put in a $2B bid for the team

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/3402...il-blazers

(06-02-2022 03:41 PM)Renandpat Wrote:  Back to the Blazers, Woj reports that Phil Knight and a Dodgers co-owner have put in a $2B bid for the team

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/3402...il-blazers

Beat me to it. That would mean Blazers would be staying.