Final
Boston Celtics at Detroit Pistons
113 – 121
2026-27 · Regular season
Adam Silver: NBA expansion is still ‘a few seasons away,’ and LeBron’s Fanatics helicopter is ‘no rules issue’
On Opening Day, Adam Silver said talks with Las Vegas and Seattle are ongoing but new teams are still a few seasons away, kept Mexico City in the picture and said LeBron James' Fanatics helicopter raises no rules issue.
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Adam Silver used an Opening Day interview to put a timeline on expansion, and it was longer than some fans in Las Vegas and Seattle may have hoped. Talks with both cities are ongoing, the NBA commissioner said on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, but new teams are still “a few seasons away” from playing.
“We’re still a few seasons away from actual expansion taking place, but as you said, we’ve been public about the fact that we’re looking closely at Las Vegas and Seattle,” Silver said. “A bunch of different opportunities out there, and discussions are ongoing about Las Vegas and Seattle right now.”
In the same appearance, hours before the Celtics and Pistons opened the season in Detroit, Silver also said there is “no rules issue” with LeBron James riding a Fanatics helicopter between New York and Philadelphia.
Las Vegas, Seattle and, one day, Mexico City
Silver gave each of the two cities under review its own pitch. On Las Vegas, he pointed to the race to build a new building there. “Las Vegas seems to have an insatiable appetite for sports and entertainment,” he said. “Several groups now are thinking of even building a brand-new arena in town, which at least the presentation is maybe the most spectacular arena ever.”
On Seattle, he leaned on history. “Seattle has a great arena, there’s a great NBA tradition there, so we’re looking closely at returning to Seattle,” he said. The SuperSonics left for Oklahoma City in 2008, and Climate Pledge Arena has been home to the NHL’s Kraken since 2021.
He also kept a third market in the conversation. “I’ve mentioned maybe down the road, there’s Mexico City, largest city in North America, burgeoning a huge basketball base,” Silver said. “Fans in Mexico, large Mexican-American population.” He also pointed to geography: “Shorter flight from New York to Mexico City than from New York to Los Angeles. You could see how that could work in our league.”
That lines up with what Silver told owners at last month’s Board of Governors meeting, where he said at least one Mexico City group had approached PJT Partners, the bank running the NBA’s expansion process, with a plan for a team and a new arena district. Brian Windhorst has reported that the Seattle bids so far are “substantially lower” than the Las Vegas offers, and that the Mexico City interest may also be putting pressure on the Seattle groups.
What ‘a few seasons away’ means
Silver did not give a date for a vote, and “a few seasons” describes when expansion teams would actually play, not when owners would decide. The league has said it wants to decide by the end of 2026 whether to add zero, one or two teams. Even if a vote comes on that schedule, a new club still needs an ownership group approved, a front office hired, an expansion draft held and, in Las Vegas, a place to play while a new arena is built.
| Where things stand | |
|---|---|
| Markets under formal review | Las Vegas and Seattle; Mexico City mentioned as a possible later option |
| Who runs the process | PJT Partners, the investment bank hired by the NBA |
| Approval needed | 23 of the 30 current owners |
| Expected price in Las Vegas | About $10 billion in expansion fees, plus $2 billion to $3 billion for an arena |
| Las Vegas arena pitches | About a dozen sites, including the Area15 plan west of the Strip and Resorts World’s North Strip land |
| Silver’s timeline | “A few seasons away from actual expansion taking place” |
The Las Vegas side of the race has been busy. Raiders minority owner Egon Durban joined the Walton-Laurie bid last week, and developers have been pitching arena sites, as we covered in the Area15 proposal backed by Mayor Shelley Berkley. Silver’s “most spectacular arena ever” line suggests at least one of those presentations made an impression.
‘No rules issue’ with LeBron’s helicopter
Silver also answered one of the opening week’s stranger questions. James, who signed with the 76ers this summer, has been commuting from New York in a helicopter owned by Fanatics, and Pablo Torre said earlier this month that NBA owners had sent him tips about it.
Silver said “there’s no rules issue there whatsoever” as long as James made his deal with Fanatics on his own, without any involvement from the 76ers.
By the accounts so far, that is how the deal works. The flights come through corporate aviation access that is part of the trading-card partnership James signed with Fanatics in January 2024, long before he joined Philadelphia, and a spokesperson for James has said the perk is a feature of many of the company’s deals with its biggest athletes. Daniel Roberts reported that a small handful of other athletes with big Fanatics deals get the same access. Fanatics founder Michael Rubin sold his minority stake in the 76ers in 2022.
The questions came up because owners are on alert after the league punished the Clippers over Kawhi Leonard’s endorsement deal with Aspiration, a case Torre helped bring to light. Silver’s answer suggests the league does not see the James arrangement in the same light. Our earlier story on Torre looking into the helicopter commute has the background.
‘I can’t remember a season that was so anticipated’
The rest of the interview was about the season itself. Silver said he could not recall a year with this much buzz about how competitive the league is, building on the point he made on Monday about eight different champions in eight years.
“I can’t remember a season that was so anticipated in terms of the level of competition across the league,” Silver said. “The East is loaded and we’ve got some great teams in the West.”
When McAfee pushed him to bring the show to Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis for the NBA Cup final, Silver used the moment to defend the in-season tournament, which enters its fourth year with the title game at the historic gym on Dec. 11. “The players love the competition and the fans have responded well to it,” he said. The 2026-27 key dates have the full Cup calendar.
What’s next
For Las Vegas and Seattle, the next real marker is a formal step from the owners, whether that is a vote on how many teams to add or the league choosing between the Las Vegas groups. Silver’s words on Tuesday were a reminder that even once that happens, the wait for a first home game will be measured in seasons. More league coverage is in Around the league.
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