After a historic season, the WNBA is gearing up for a welcome change! Following in the footsteps of Golden State and Toronto, Portland will also be getting a WNBA team soon as the league has given a green signal to the 15th team for a record $125 million. On the other hand, the NBA has been in talks for league expansion for a long time, but no moves have been made yet. NBA commissioner Adam Silver has often been urged to bring the league to two cities in particular. Now, a former NBA star and his crew have made a request regarding the expansion.

The Club 520 podcast host Bishop B Henn was the first to make a request to have the Seattle SuperSonics back. And he wasn’t alone. NBA champ Jeff Teague quickly agreed with his co-host and said, “That’s probably the next one up.” Does the NBA have plans for expansion in Seattle, though?

The good news is yes. Commissioner Silver may not have made a move just yet, but he has revealed that the two cities in talks are Seattle and Las Vegas. “We will look at (Vegas),” Silver had stated last year. “There’s no doubt there’s enormous interest in Seattle. That’s not a secret.” The word is that the NBA will soon begin working to bring the two cities back after the media rights were handled.

Seattle was home to the SuperSonics for a long time, from 1967 to 2008. However, due to several issues with the arena, the team, led by Kevin Durant, moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder after the 2007-08 season. Naturally, many are looking forward to welcoming Seattle back, including Jeff Teague and his co-hosts.

On the other hand, Las Vegas didn’t have a professional sports team for a long time, but that changed with the arrival of the NHL franchise, the Golden Knights, in 2017. This was followed by the WNBA’s San Antonio Stars moving to Las Vegas as the Aces in 2018 and the Las Vegas Raiders of the NFL in 2020. And it will only grow more with an NBA team. Now is certainly the right time, especially considering the WNBA’s power move.

Portland is all set to join the WNBA  

The league is eager to expand into new markets. As mentioned previously, it has secured a remarkable $125 million deal for Portland. Next up, the league has announced plans to bring in a 16th expansion team. 

Given the rising popularity, more than 12 to 15 parties have expressed interest, and, unsurprisingly, the bids have reached unprecedented heights. As per FOS, South Florida, Nashville, Denver, and Philadelphia have shown interest. In just a few hours, bids for the 16th team have surged to between $200 million and $250 million. 

The Golden State Valkyries will join the league next season, while Portland will enter in 2026 alongside Toronto. Commissioner Adam Silver, who is also part of the governing body of the WNBA, has likely been closely monitoring this process. If anything, we can expect even more intense competition in the NBA’s team expansion bids.