ESPN senior NBA writer Brian Windhorst<\/a> and ESPN senior NBA insider Shams Charania<\/a> each have reported this week about an upcoming meeting of the league\u2019s Board of Governors, and both made mention of Seattle in their dispatches.<\/p>\n First, Windhorst joined The Rich Eisen Show this week, and credit the host for asking the exact question every Sonics fan wants to hear answered.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s go Seattle for the Super Bowl champs. Are they going to get the Sonics back? What do you think?\u201d Eisen asked.<\/p>\n Windhorst\u2019s response was good news \u2013 except for the expected timeline of expansion he shared.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, what I suspect is later this year, the NBA will announce that they are going to form a committee to study expansion, which is going to be an action \u2013 which is code for we\u2019re going to expand. They\u2019re not going to say it, but they\u2019re going to expand. But there\u2019s some arena situations that have to be settled first.\u201d<\/p>\n Among the arena situations is one just down I-5 in Portland, where the Trail Blazers are in the process of being sold<\/a> by the estate of the late Paul Allen \u2013 the same ownership as the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks. The Blazers play at the Moda Center, which first opened in 1995.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now there\u2019s an arena situation in Portland that is bubbling. There\u2019s a couple other arena situations I won\u2019t get into, but typically \u2013 even though I don\u2019t think the NBA will relocate \u2013 you want to make sure all of your arena situations are settled before you then expand,\u201d Windhorst continued. \u201cBut I do think that\u2019s where we\u2019re headed. It\u2019ll be a process.<\/p>\n \u201cYou won\u2019t see the Sonics back in 2027. It could be a few years, but I think that\u2019s where we are headed.\u201d<\/p>\n You can watch Windhorst\u2019s answer to Eisen by clicking play on the video here:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n OK, so Windhorst makes it sound like the process of the NBA expanding for the first time since 2004 is basically underway, but that there are still some pieces of business for the league to straighten out first. That certainly sounds familiar to Seattle fans<\/a>, and not in a good way.<\/p>\n At least it can\u2019t be taken as a bad sign that Charania, the most well-known news-breaking reporter in the NBA world today, had his own things to share Thursday on ESPN\u2019s NBA Today<\/a>. Not only did he specifically mention Seattle and Las Vegas as the \u201cfront runners\u201d to be granted expansion teams, but he also spoke about realignment logistics with those two potential additions.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m told there is a Board of Governors meeting in March where the expectation is there\u2019s going to be some more information, financials on what it looks like when you go get a couple more expansion teams potentially, what it means for the rest of the league,\u201d Charania said. \u201cHow much are the valuations of those two teams going to be? What does the league layout look like? And then potentially in the summer as 2026 goes on, have a potential determination.<\/p>\n \u201cBut my understanding is Seattle and Las Vegas are the front runners for expansion teams, and then from there, a Western Conference team moving to the Eastern Conference. So you think about teams in that region, right? Memphis, Minnesota, New Orleans \u2013 could one of those teams potentially move to the Eastern Conference? These are conversations that we\u2019ll be picking up as 2026 goes on.\u201d<\/p>\n Charania reported a similar timeline as Windhorst, though.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is still a few years away from actually taking place as far as these expansion teams being put forth for the public,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The NBA expansion reports have been like an added bonus to an eventful week in Seattle sports that has hit four major North American sports.<\/p>\n On the same night as the Seahawks\u2019 Super Bowl championship victory over New England, The Dallas Morning News\u2019 Brad Townsend posted that he thinks \u201cit\u2019s going to be an extra-great year for Seattle\u201d as he is \u201chearing\u201d the NBA Board of Governors are \u201clikely to vote on expanding by two teams this summer and Las Vegas and Seattle are favored.\u201d The next day, the Mariners started getting to work at spring training as they look to build upon their AL West title and ALCS appearance in 2025. And members of the PWHL\u2019s Seattle Torrent<\/a> and NHL\u2019s Seattle Kraken<\/a> have been excelling in women\u2019s<\/a> and men\u2019s hockey<\/a> action at the Winter Olympics in Italy.<\/p>\n Former UW Huskies C Isaiah Stewart suspended seven games by NBA<\/a><\/p>\n
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