NBA senior vice-president Raúl Zárraga spoke to AS about the league’s plans to expand for the first time in over two decades.

While there are numerous cities one could envision housing an NBA team, functionally there are three which keep coming up as likely landing spots. Let’s dive into the viability of these cities, and imagine a scenario where the league expands to 32 teams, matching the NFL and NHL.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver put the topic of expansion on the back burner until the league settled its collective bargaining agreement (completed in 2023) and reached a new national broadcast deal (finalized in 2024).