NBA Las Vegas Expansion Team Eyed by NHL's Golden Knights Owner

Bill Foley is already the majority owner of the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights, and now he has his eye on an NBA team as well.

Foley and the Golden Knights released a statement Monday saying he plans on pursuing an NBA team for Las Vegas with the help of Morgan Stanley.

"Las Vegas has earned its place among the great sports cities in America, and an NBA team belongs here," Foley said in a statement. "We built the Golden Knights into a championship organization from the ground up, and we are prepared to do it again—with the same standard, the same commitment to this community, and the same insistence on winning. We have the market, a proven world-class arena, and a best-in-class organization in place. Our intention is to be ready the day the NBA is ready."

The Golden Knights are not the only team Foley has an ownership stake in across the sports world.

He also owns the AHL's Henderson Silver Knights, the Indoor Football League's Vegas Knight Hawks, the English soccer club AFC Bournemouth and the New Zealand soccer club Auckland FC.

Yet the success he has enjoyed with the Golden Knights surely stands out and could make quite the impression when it comes to the NBA.

Vegas just finished its ninth season in franchise history and has already enjoyed more success than plenty of longer-tenured teams across the NHL. In nine years, it has been to the playoffs eight times, won a Stanley Cup and reached the Stanley Cup Final three times.

Avalanche-Golden Knights Highlights

04:00

The Golden Knights have averaged one Stanley Cup Final appearance every three years under Foley's ownership and just advanced that far this past season before losing to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Foley's statement comes as the NBA looks into eventual expansion. Most notably, the league's Board of Governors announced in March it authorized the league to look into bringing expansion teams to Las Vegas and Seattle.

"Today's vote reflects our Board's interest in exploring potential expansion to Las Vegas and Seattle—two markets with a long history of support for NBA basketball," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. "We look forward to taking this next step and engaging with interested parties."

Seattle was the home of the SuperSonics before they moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder, while Las Vegas has seen an explosion of professional sports teams in the city in recent years.

An NBA expansion team would be joining teams such as the NFL's Raiders, WNBA's Aces, NHL's Golden Knights and, eventually, MLB's Athletics in Las Vegas, which is surely a selling point for Foley.