Overview
- At the Board of Governors meeting Tuesday, Commissioner Adam Silver said he hopes to decide on expansion by the end of 2026 and confirmed multiple serious groups are presenting Las Vegas plans to the league’s bankers.
- The league is finalizing bids for an initial set of NBA Europe cities and plans meetings around the World Cup final in New York as it aims for a fall 2027 launch window.
- An outside investigation led by Wachtell Lipton into whether the Los Angeles Clippers circumvented salary-cap rules in a Kawhi Leonard-related deal remains active, the probe has put a trade on hold, and the league hopes to complete the review this summer.
- The CBA’s 'second apron' is continuing to constrain roster and trade decisions by creating hard payroll limits that teams avoid because of steep penalties, a system the league defends and the players’ union criticizes.
- Owners face large financial and governance questions as the league weighs expansion fee estimates of roughly $7–10 billion per team and the Board of Governors unanimously elected Miami owner Micky Arison to become chair in September, a move that will shape oversight of the process.