Adam Silver: NBA Has Had 'No Discussion' on Expansion; Could Come Up 'in a Few Years'

NBA commissioner Adam Silver told reporters that the league hasn't discussed expansion recently but that talks among team governors could ramp up after the next collective bargaining agreement and television rights deal "in a few years," per ESPN and Andscape's Marc J. Spears.

Silver previously told reporters last June that the NBA wasn't discussing expansion at that time but that it would "invariably" happen.

The NBA has been at 30 teams since the 2004-05 season, when the league added the Charlotte Bobcats (now Hornets). The last expansion round before that saw the NBA expand to Canada with the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver (now Memphis) Grizzlies in 1995.

Four teams joined the NBA in 1988 and 1989 with the Charlotte Hornets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Miami Heat and Orlando Magic.

The NBA hasn't seen much movement this century either. No team has moved outside its metro area since the Seattle SuperSonics left to become the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008.

The last team to change cities (and their name) at all is the Brooklyn (formerly New Jersey) Nets, who played in Newark, New Jersey in 2011-12 before heading to Barclays Center.

Seattle is an obvious choice for an expansion location. The city loved its Sonics before an ownership sale led to a move to OKC. The city does a great job supporting its pro teams (e.g. Storm, OL Reign, Mariners, Sounders, Seahawks, Kraken), and there's a basketball-sized hole remaining.

Las Vegas, which is home to the WNBA's Aces, NFL's Raiders and NHL's Golden Knights, could be an option as well.

Basketball Hall of Fame point guard Gary Payton, who dominated for the Sonics in the 1990s, told TMZ Sports that he thinks expansion is "gonna happen."

"I think us [Seattle] and Vegas should be a good starting point for what the NBA wants to do," Payton said.

Rumors about those cities have occurred, but nothing is imminent.

As Silver noted, the CBA and television rights deals need to be in place before expansion talk. The current CBA expires after 2023-24. The television deal with ESPN and Turner Sports runs through 2024-25.