[HitsterParticipant]

Interesting article today on ESPN website about the economics and possible locations for expansion teams. These would be at least 3 years off probably 4 and the money existing teams ‘ owners would make for losing a share of the revenue distribution makes the financial position jumps out at me.

The biggest stumbling block IMO is which team might have to move to the East if both new teams are in the West as seems likely. I personally feel that one of the new teams should be put in the East regardless of location unless an existing team was happy to move.

I’d also say that new teams should start their roster from scratch and only be able to take players an existing team is happy to let go. An existing team could nominate as many or as few players as they wanted to be potentially “moved” to the new teams. Otherwise the new teams build via draft and FA market.

[NorrinRaddParticipant]

I hope an expansion actually comes to fruition. It would be kind of nice to have as many teams that don’t make the playoffs the same amount that do make the playoffs.

[HitsterParticipant]

Yep 32 teams would make sense and the NBA CUp can be a stand alone knockout tournament. The draw could be seeded or even do a random draw for each round like the FA Cups do in UK and most European countries for football. The size of the US might mean the first couple of rounds need to be Conference based but certainly the last 4 could be a random draw for the semi finals..
Some teams would only get one cup game a year but that is the way it works in a lot of cup competitions its sudden death knockout and you’d only need 3 bespoke dates in the season for these matches apart from the finals weekend.

The expansion would create 30 more playing spots minimum plus two way deals and possible G-League affiliates so it would open up more playing space for prospects and existing NBA players as well as more coaching roles so once the logistics of who plays in which division and conference are sorted out I don’t see any major stumbling blocks.

The draft becomes 32 players in each round. Lottery gets increased to 16 teams, play offs and play in games stay as they are.

[BothTeamsPlayedHard-Participant]

The most “natural” fit to move to the East would be Minnesota. In MLB, they play with Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and KC. In the NFL, they play with Chicago, Green Bay, and Detroit. The University of Minnesota plays in the Big Ten, which is historically a midwestern league. If they go to four divisions (which really only matters for the minimal number of games to get to 82), then it comes out pretty clean (four games against 5 teams in your division, three games against two of them, three games against the other teams in the conference, and twice against the teams from the other conference). The only team that feels miscast would be Atlanta or Charlotte going to the Central.
Pacific
Golden State Warriors
Las Vegas Basketball Club
Los Angeles Clippers
Los Angeles Lakers
Phoenix Suns
Portland Trail Blazers
Sacramento Kings
Seattle Supersonics
Southwest
Dallas Mavericks
Denver Nuggets
Houston Rockets
Memphis Grizzlies
New Orleans Pelicans
Oklahoma City Thunder
San Antonio Spurs
Utah Jazz
Central
Atlanta Hawks
Chicago Bulls
Cleveland Cavaliers
Detroit Pistons
Indiana Pacers
Milwaukee Bucks
Minnesota Timberwolves
Toronto Raptors
Atlantic
Boston Celtics
Brooklyn Nets
Charlotte Hornets
Miami Heat
New York Knicks
Orlando Magic
Philadelphia 76ers
Washington Wizards

[NorrinRaddParticipant]

Seattle and Vegas make great sense!

[HitsterParticipant]

Seattle have been “next in line” for a team ever since the Sonics moved so I agree they make perfect sense. Las Vegas will have the money behind it and is a major tourist destination plus an entertaiment hub so there would be people visiting who would take in a game. Also the Las Vegas team would make a huge amount of money from the “high rollers” attending games and taking in the corporate hospitality.

I wonder what the name of the Las Vegas team would be. The High Rollers, The Dicemen, The Showtime, The Gamblers?

Would the mascot wear an Elvis rhinestone jumpsuit?

[BothTeamsPlayedHard-Participant]

The Raiders have the highest ticket prices on average in the NFL. The Golden Knights have the third highest ticket prices in the NHL. This is despite Las Vegas having a relatively low median income level per capita. The casinos and travel agencies are going to gobble up season tickets, and people are going to use their favorite team heading to Vegas as an excuse to go.

The problem with coming up with a name is that when the NHL moved there random people started trademarking options in the hopes a team comes along and buys it off them at an extortionate rate. If those people haven’t done so yet with random basketball names, they certainly will once this process gets moving.

[HitsterParticipant]

With the names were they trademarking things like “Vegas Golden Knights” or just the moniker at the end?

There are loads of teams with say “Warriors” as the moniker or “Rangers” etc plus you have certain words trademarked by likes of Disney, WWE etc.

[BothTeamsPlayedHard-Participant]

I don’t see a list of the trademarked team names, but I remember the owner of the Golden Knights pointing out the problem of trying to get a good name that wasn’t already trademarked. They even had legal issues with West Point because their nickname is the Black Knights. One of the owner of the Bucks trademarked Las Vegas Villains in case he gets an MLS expansion team. The owner of the Oakland A’s has tried to get the Vegas A’s trademarked in case they can successfully move there. In the case of the “Las Vegas Gamblers” name, there was a minor league hockey team back in the day that went under. It is possible someone still owns that trademark. It is a bigger deal than it should. With the Supersonics, it is simply an internal NBA matter of the OKC Thunder handing it over as part of the expansion fee.

[HitsterParticipant]

Would a name like Villains be allowed for a team. A major football team close to me in England is called Aston Villa and one of their nicknames is the Villians but its not an official moniker on their name. Would the Las Vegas Mobsters be allowed if Villains could be used.

If LeBron is a part owner how about the Las Vegas James Gang or Las Vegas James’ like the Cleveland Browns named after their founding coach. The team would be known as LVJ so pretty close to LBJ.

[BothTeamsPlayedHard-Participant]

It is hard to tell where they will go with it. I doubt they would lean into the gangster history of the city, and the history of the Bobcats would lead me to believe even LeBron opts against naming the team after himself.

[HitsterParticipant]

After the work David Stern did disassociating the NBA with the more unsavoury fringes of gangsta rap, I agree that the mobster/gangster type moniker would be unlikely to happen for that reason. But something to do with gambling would still be possible.

The Bobcats as the Jordanaires would have had a ring to it or even as Charlotte Air possibly but that would fit better for a team in somewhere like Denver with their altitude.

Would the Las Vegas Sinners upset some of the more religious factions?

The Las Vegas Light or Lights, Las Vegas Neons, Las Vegas Chancers were my other thoughts.

[Author]

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