Adam Silver Won't Stop Teasing Sonics Fans About A Potential NBA Return To Seattle
Rocky Widner. Getty Images.Over the last few years, whenever Adam Silver is in front of a mic or doing any sort of press conference, the topic of expansion usually comes up. Time and time again Silver essentially confirms it's going to happen without flat out saying it. As a reminder, this was him last month at the Finals
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At that time, he didn't list potential cities even though we ALL know which two are probably coming.
That changed the other day while speaking out in Vegas
“We will look at [Las Vegas],” Silver said. “There’s no doubt there’s enormous interest in Seattle. That’s not a secret. There are other markets that have indicated interest. For the people who hear or read about this interview, we are not engaged in that process now. We’re not taking meetings right now with any potential groups.”
Sure sounds like this is more of a "when" not "if" situation when it comes to NBA basketball finally returning to the Emerald City. I'll just say this to Adam Silver. You better come through. You cannot cock tease Sonics fans like this who have been wishing for this moment since the minute Clay Bennett took the Sonics/Thunder out of Seattle.
I don't think I've ever heard Silver say that line that I bolded in that quote. He always sort of stayed away from talking about specific markets, so to my knowledge, this is the most concrete he's ever been about the NBA's return to Seattle. It would be very messed up to basically come off like this is a done deal as soon as the new TV deal gets sorted out only to choose another location other than Seattle. I feel like Sonics fans have suffered enough.
The current media deal ends after the 2025 season so it's still a little ways away….but not really. Shit, 2023 is already halfway over. If the league was smart they would televise the expansion draft and make a whole event out of it. I'm pretty sure that would be easy to sell. Back when this happened in 2004 with the Bobcats it took place 2 days before the real NBA Draft so there has to be a way to make this work. If you don't make it a live event, at least give us some sort of behind the scenes/Hard Knocks type show with the front offices of each expansion team where we see which players they try and steal from other teams to build their roster. Film it, edit it, and put it out the day before the Draft or something. I dunno, I'm just spitballing here.
The larger point of course is we can't have all this talk about a return to Seattle and then not have a return to Seattle. Fans want it, the city wants it, it's pretty obvious Adam Silver and the league want it, and you can't put that toothpaste back in the tube. With how deep rosters are in today's NBA, think of how fun it's going to be to talk about which guys don't make the cut and find themselves on the unprotected list. Maybe a team wants to get off a bad contract. Maybe a young promising player doesn't make the cut because a team is in win now mode and needs to protect their best talent. It's all going to be awesome to watch/debate, we just need to get to 2025.