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NBA Advances Expansion Vetting and Europe Launch as Kawhi Probe Continues

League owners are moving toward a year-end expansion decision while legal and labor issues are shaping which deals can proceed.

Overview

  • Commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday the league is “very much on track” to have owners decide by the end of 2026 whether to add teams in Las Vegas and Seattle.
  • Multiple public and private groups are actively submitting bids for both markets with expansion fees widely reported in the $7 billion to $10 billion range.
  • An independent review by law firm Wachtell Lipton is examining whether the Clippers circumvented salary-cap rules related to a Kawhi Leonard endorsement and that probe has put a proposed Leonard trade on hold.
  • The NBA is finalizing bids for its separate NBA Europe project aimed to begin play in October 2027 with a planned initial group of cities under discussion with FIBA and European partners.
  • Owners elected Miami’s Micky Arison as Board chair and the league and NBPA remain in a public dispute over the CBA’s ‘second apron,’ an extra payroll threshold that limits team trades and signings and that players say will be a bargaining issue going forward.