NBA takes major step in adding teams to Las Vegas, city where championship team originally played: report

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The road to 32 NBA teams is officially on.

The association's Board of Governors approved a vote on Wednesday to explore bids and applicants for expansion teams in Las Vegas and Seattle, ESPN reported.

ESPN noted that the association is eyeing the 2028-29 season for the teams to begin playing, and it's a matter of "when, not if."

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A general overall view of the opening tipoff between San Antonio Spurs center Luke Kornet and New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns during the Emirates NBA Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena.  (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)

A team in Seattle would mark a return to a city that had an NBA champion in the SuperSonics in 1979. They moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder in 2008, less than a year after drafting Kevin Durant with the second overall pick.

Seattle and Las Vegas are now set to be Big Four cities for the first time — after decades of the Mariners and Seahawks, the NHL expanded to Seattle in 2021 to bring in the Kraken, 13 years after the Sonics left. 

As for Las Vegas, after decades of not having any professional sports due to concerns about legalized gambling, it will soon have a professional team in each of the four major sports leagues. The NHL expanded in the city in 2017, bringing in the Vegas Golden Knights, and the Oakland Raiders moved to southern Nevada three years later. The Athletics of Major League Baseball will be there in 2028 — they are currently playing in a minor-league stadium in Sacramento as their Vegas stadium is under construction and their lease in Oakland ran out.

Bids are expected to be at least $7 billion and could rise to even