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NBA expansion losing momentum among owners
Multiple senior team officials and people with knowledge of at least some owners’ thoughts have told The Athletic in recent days that while Seattle remains a top candidate for a new or potentially relocated team among owners, there is not overwhelming momentum among governors to immediately expand past the current 30 teams.
Olden Polynice: "It's a preseason game at Michigan State against the Pistons. I'm in Seattle. So, I just made a basket. As he takes the ball out of bounds he pops me. I was like, "Oh, what?" (…) As he hits me, I just walk up and ‘Pow!’ him with the shoulder, cracked him dead in the face. All you see is blood splatter everywhere. He goes down. My shoulder. I threw that. I didn't throw a punch. I threw the shoulder right at him. I just got close, ‘Pow!’ Cracked it. You could hear it and everything. Throw me out of the game. The league ended up rescinding the fine because the referee thought I threw a punch. They never saw a punch, so it looked accidental. He goes down, blood everywhere. I'm like, ‘Ha!’ The mask was because of me.
Eddie Johnson: “Vegas, and obviously Seattle is another team. What are some cities that might be trying to vie for [a NBA team] over those two?” Mark Cuban: “A lot, right? A lot. I'm not in the mix anymore, but I mean, I've heard Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati, anybody who's got a professional team in another big four sport feels like they deserve a NBA team if they don't have one. But I think, you know Adam hasn't come out and said it, but I think Vegas and Seattle are the front runners. When they do it? I don't know.”
Jack Sikma: 'Oklahoma City didn't steal the franchise. Seattle lost it'
Jack Sikma: "It’s completely different. And there's no anger in that. Yeah, it's not that. It's just different. And again, Oklahoma City didn't steal the franchise. Seattle lost it, which was for a number of reasons. There are a number of villains that we could—you know—kick the dog at this guy or that guy, or whatever. So, I hold nothing against Oklahoma City and their fans. But I’m not rooting for them. Seattle needs a franchise again. And actually, Seattle's been teased a bit about a franchise because there's always one other event that has to happen. I can understand—they needed a new media deal done. They got it done. That helps set a price. It's really—we think we’re going to expand, but we don’t know what it's going to cost. So, I guess we use the term many times—patience. That’s what it’s going to come down to. And hopefully, if they do ever decide to expand, Seattle’s near the top of the list, if not the top of the list."
Seattle Storm legend Sue Bird to receive statue
Move over Lenny Wilkens, there’s another Seattle sports star coming to the neighborhood. Storm legend Sue Bird will be honored with a statue on Aug. 17 that will stand on the west plaza of Climate Pledge Arena next to the Wilkens statue, which was unveiled Saturday afternoon. “Lenny Wilkens’ legacy in this city is undeniable — he helped lay the foundation for Seattle’s deep love of the game,” Storm President and CEO Alisha Valavanis said in a statement. “Both Lenny and Sue have brought home championships, inspired generations and helped shape Seattle into the incredible basketball city that it is today. “The Storm are honored to be part of this monumental moment for Lenny, and we can’t wait to celebrate Sue and all that she’s meant to our city when we unveil her statue later this summer.”
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Dejounte Murray: Gregg Popovich tried to move my mom to San Antonio with his own money after she got shot
Dejounte Murray on Gregg Popovich: So for me, he was like a father figure. There’s so many stories—if he were able to sit here and talk, he’d tell you: he’s never had a player come into his office and cry on his shoulder about how many murders he had to deal with back home in Seattle, how many funerals I had to pay for. It was so crazy—a lot of my people don’t even know this. From family, friends, and the penitentiary... Pop didn’t want me to go to Seattle. When I first got drafted, I wouldn’t go to Seattle. And that was a man who cared about me. That was a man who wanted me to reach my full potential in life first—then as a basketball player. He’s so real. He tried to move my mom to San Antonio with his own money after she got shot. My mom was shot in the leg my rookie year. He called her himself—without me knowing until after the fact. "We want to move you here." No—not with his money, with my money. That sounds like a dude that cares about me and loves me, right?
Jorge Sierra: Tom Thibodeau is the second coach in NBA history to be fired by two different teams following 50-win seasons (in Chicago and New York. The first one was George Karl (Seattle and Denver).
The Sonics were such an afterthought on the Seattle sports scene that the team had almost no storage space at the arena. So the team had to squirrel away equipment all over the city in a variety of storage spaces during the offseason, and St. Yves was one of the few people who knew where everything was stashed. When the team trainer left two weeks before the 1987 season, a Sonics staffer took St. Yves' parents out to dinner and begged them to let St. Yves leave college early to become the NBA's third full-time equipment manager. They said yes, and St. Yves never left, not even when the team relocated from Seattle to Oklahoma City in 2012. He's the poster child for the idea that ball-boying can become a career. Over the past 40 years, St. Yves has moved up the Thunder ladder over and over again. Now, he's a VP who manages security, travel and the equipment team.
NBA will discuss league expansion in July
The NBA will discuss league expansion this summer in Las Vegas, one of the front-runners to land a potential franchise. League officials and the 30 owners will formally discuss expansion for the first time during the NBA’s board of governors meeting in July, commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday during a SiriusXM interview. “To get the existing owners’ views on potential expansion and how we would begin furthering the study of all the implications,” Silver said.
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After that meeting, the NBA would look to get a sense of what markets might be interested in landing an expansion franchise. “Obviously I know there’s tremendous interest in Seattle, I know there’s tremendous interest in Las Vegas and several other cities as well,” Silver said. Silver made it clear that the league had not begun any formal expansion talks.
Jorge Sierra: The Pacers upset the Cavs despite a 7.3 point differential gap in the regular season. Only three bigger upsets in NBA history if we focus solely on point differential: Golden State vs. Dallas in 2007 (7.56), Denver vs. Seattle in 1994 (7.60), LA Lakers vs. Seattle in 1995 (8.40)
“If I’m honest, I think for that [next] expansion, I think Mexico City is not going to be in it,” Pérez-Pla de Alvear said. “Right now, I think that’s not going to happen in a two-year period. Because I think easily that Seattle has everything, they have had the Supersonics. And Las Vegas has completely everything.” But Pérez-Pla de Alvear also said Mexico City has one little (or big) thing that Seattle and Las Vegas does not. “Instead of opening [the NBA] to a city,” he said, “you’re going to open a whole country.”
Samantha Holloway, who hails from Washington, D.C., has a lot to manage in her day-to-day with the Kraken. But she’s also constantly keeping an ear to NBA expansion talks. She’s ready to act if Silver gives it the green light—but knows she needs to be careful not to overpromise, lest she underdeliver. “[My dad] said to somebody, ‘You know, I make no promises,’” Holloway tells Front Office Sports about reviving the Sonics. “And I feel like I certainly wouldn’t promise. There are so many unknowns, and I mean, first of all, it’s a privilege to even be considered. We’re waiting for the NBA and expansion may be on its radar, and it may not be.”
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