[Mr.Knick 32Participant]

If you didn’t hear- There were some rumors of the Pistons moving to Vegas.

They turned out to be unlikely but I have to think that we could be getting some NBA expansion soon. The Seattle area was believed to get one first when expansion comes back up. If Seattle and Las Vegas gets a franchise, what cities would get one in the Eastern area?

The only one I can think of is Kansas City because KC was a old franchise and had some support before leaving for Sacramento.

[llperez]

if they add a team or two to the west, they would probably just slide memphis over to the east. Kansas City is also a possibility.

[ChewyParticipant]

I think with the way they support the Steelers that Pittsburgh might not be a bad location. Arguably the strongest fan base in NFL maybe they could support an NBA team as well

[WizardofOzParticipant]

One city on the East Coast that might get an a new team is Baltimore because the Washington Wizards use to be in Baltimore when they were the Baltimore Bullets but they moved to D.C. and Baltimore is a big market. The NBA might wanna bring an NBA franchise back to Baltimore.

[Charlie SheenParticipant]

If they did add 2 to the West the 2 out East would have to be Connecticut and Kansas City, Baltimore and Virginia wont get team because of D.C. Jersey wont get a new team maybe bring Detroit back but the have too much heritage

[the I in winParticipant]

I think they would just move either Memphis or New Orleans to the east.

[kaceyParticipant]

Las Vegas has a ways to go before they can bring an NBA team in. David Stern doesn’t allow in-state casinos that host an NBA team to take money on NBA games.

That is why the Grizzlies never moved to Las Vegas back in 1999.

Pittsburgh is too much of a football town to me, I couldn’t see them hosting a NBA franchise.

[BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipant]

It isn’t going to happen, but if the league and the players agreed to expand by two teams in 2012 and another two in 2014 they would probably be able to make agreeing to a new CBA much easier. I do think that there are four markets. Las Vegas, Anaheim, Newark (once the Nets move to Brooklyn), and Seattle can have a team. Vegas can get a stadium built if they get an okay on a team. Anaheim and newark have NBA-ready arenas and guaranteed tv money. The only questionable market is Seattle, and it the largest metro area without a team and supported the Sonics for 30 years. I don’t think the league should look to expand/move to dying cities. Kansas City isn’t growing. Pittsburgh is faring better than most in the rust belt, but that is small praise. It is still shrinking in population. Cincy has an arena, but it isn’t a growing market. Louisville is getting ready to open a new arena, but it is another Rust Belt city. I don’t know if there is a big enough NBA fan base there. Montreal has an economy and the Bell Centre. San Diego is big enough, but I’m not sure if there is a corporate base or an NBA arena. Mexico City would be the gate way to Latin America and real international expansion beyond the familiar international expansion of Canada. Arena Ciudad de Mexico is currently being built. It is going to cost $300 million and hold 22,000 people. It probably wouldn’t be viewed as a viable city for expansion for a number of years, but it will be considered a possibility within the next decade.

[Author]

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