Report: NBA Likely Won't Consider Expansion Until 2022 amid Seattle Buzz

While Seattle remains a prime location for NBA expansion, league officials don't expect to formally consider the notion until 2022 at the earliest. 

According to David Aldridge of The Athletic, the NBA's return to Seattle "seems inevitable," but just when that will happen remains unknown. 

"[A] high-ranking team executive said it was unlikely any serious consideration of expansion would happen at least before the end of the 2021-22 season," Aldridge wrote Friday. "At any rate, expansion remains the much more likely route for cities currently without NBA teams in the next few years than relocation. And Seattle is at the top of the list."

Aldridge lists Las Vegas and Vancouver as additional options for the league if it considers expanding by two teams, though the NBA may be content with 31 total clubs for "a while". 

The biggest factor in the league's return to Seattle appears to be the NHL having already expanded to the city.

Per Aldridge: 

"Seattle has laid the groundwork for an NBA return through its expansion NHL team, the Kraken. Seattle was awarded the NHL’s 32nd franchise in 2018, having partnered with business people well known both in NHL and NBA circles, who are both running the NHL team and overseeing the reconstruction of what is now known as Climate Pledge Arena on the grounds of the former KeyArena, the Sonics’ home in the Queen Anne section of Seattle for most of their four decades in town. The Kraken will begin NHL play in the 2021-22 season. More than 30,000 people signed up for season tickets before the NHL awarded Seattle the team."

Seattle has been without an NBA franchise since the Sonics relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008. 

While momentum appears to be growing for the league to return to the Emerald City, the internal discussion has not yet led to a firm decision on expansion. 

It may be a bit longer before that becomes a reality.