OKC will give Seattle history back if NBA grants Seattle an NBA Team

I am actually more concerned with other teams helping the expansion teams out with player material in the beginning.

 

Yay more 9:30 PM start times....

 

I'm worried about other teams (that aren't deep) agreeing to allow only 4 or 5 players to be protected so the expansion teams can take good young players from the Rockets or force the Rockets to trade young players instead of exposing them to the expansion draft.

 

If you're an NBA owner voting on expansion, zero reason why you'd willingly strengthen a rival and weaken your own team. If anything, the fact that the Vegas Golden Knights became an instant success in the NHL because the expansion protections were weakened substantially should give owners pause in helping out expansion teams too much.

There is absolutely no team in the NBA that does not have at least 5 players they want to protect from poaching, no matter how thin or top heavy their roster is. Contenders are not going to be willing to potentially lose their sixth man just so that a rebuilding team has to expose one of their guys on a rookie contract.

I'm really not that worried about the Rockets and an expansion draft. Assuming such a draft doesn't take place until 2027, only Reed Sheppard would still be on his rookie deal, the rest of the core will have already moved on or been signed to big money extensions. Have to assume that out of these 7 guys, you're probably going to need to consolidate down to 4 + Reed at most. You have a '25 pick likely from Phoenix, no pick in '26, and a '27 swap with Brooklyn and a '27 Phoenix pick that wouldn't need to be protected.

The volume of players should not be the issue; its whether any of them can develop into true All-NBA guys and carry the team.

 

seattle? may as well give it to canadia.

texas needs another team tbh.

 

It cuts both ways. The success of the Vegas team has increased the reach of the NHL brand and has been wildly successful locally. NHL franchises rely a lot on the shared revenue model, so some argue that the smaller market teams are benefiting from the Vegas team just as much as Vegas. Also the expansion fee alone for a new team has crossed $1B, which not too long ago was more than some entire franchises were worth. If the pie gets bigger everyone benefits.

Now whether that applies to the NBA.... I can't say. I'm much bigger hockey fan. Unlike the NBA, the NHL still has some untapped frontiers and is viewed as a regional sport. I'm not clear on how adding more teams benefits the NBA which seems to have a pretty strong brand even in places that it doesn't have a local team.

 

4 or 5? Easy...

Sengun
Thompson
Eason
Whitmore
Sheppard

Have at the rest you vultures.

 

The NBA also has a cautionary tale of being overly punitive in response to an expansion team being "too good" early on. The league really hamstrung the Vancouver Grizzlies and Toronto Raptors when they entered the league in response to owners being angry at Orlando getting the #1 pick two years in a row (and, more importantly, Shaq) by preventing them from being eligible for the #1 pick for a few years. The early Vancouver teams were incredibly bad, but they couldn't get better through the draft for years because of the league's prohibition on them receiving the top pick.

In hindsight that was one of the major reasons the league failed in Vancouver. That was an era where teams made most of their money through ticket sales and knee-capping an expansion team in a new market was very dumb. But, the other owners' reluctance to giving two new teams the #1 pick made sense back then: having big stars go to new teams meant that established franchises wouldn't get that ticket revenue.

To your point, the world is different now. The NHL has seen a lot of success in Las Vegas (and Seattle) while the revenue model for sports has shifted to television rights. I think NBA teams would appreciate the value add of teams in Seattle and Las Vegas more than they would fear the loss of ticket revenue.

 

Not a young player by any means but Dillon the Villain is gone to newer pastures....