The NBA is soon to vote on expansion, and Las Vegas could get its team

• ESPN reports that a vote on two-team expansion for the NBA is on the cards this year
• Las Vegas and Seattle are the likely winners, but a 23 out of 30 vote would be needed for each franchise to join
• Rumors about a Las Vegas NBA team have been long in the making, with the franchise expected to start in the 2028/29 season if all goes well

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is set to expand with two more franchises, and Las Vegas may be getting its own team before long, sources close to the matter told ESPN.

Las Vegas and Seattle are both primed to join the association and be ready to step into the court in the 2028-29 season, the media reported. This is huge news, as a league expansion has long been in the works, with the exact date of when this may happen subject to much speculation.

Las Vegas NBA team has been incoming for years now - could become a reality before the year's out

While rumors were swirling years before, this is the first concrete effort to actually decide the matter definitively. Both Seattle and Las Vegas could prove highly lucrative markets for the NBA as well as the franchises involved, with industry executives projecting anything between $7bn and $10bn per team.

Presently, the NBA has 30 governors, and in order to reach a positive outcome, each franchise and subsequent expansion would need to receive at least 23 of the votes. The exact date of a potential vote is still undecided, but it must happen at some point later this year.

So, at long last, Las Vegas is indeed getting an NBA team. Of course, there are other matters to address in light of the incoming expansion to the league from 30 to 32 franchises. For example, where are Seattle and Las Vegas going to host their newly minted franchises?

Will they use existing infrastructure or invest in new facilities? This remains to be decided. Not least, a new NBA team would also be looking for a new and fitting name. Las Vegas already hosts the WNBA's Aces since 2018, but the city is yet to make its foray into the NBA.

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