In an interview in June with C.J. McCollum for The Players Tribune, Adam Silver talked about expansion.

"I think it's just a question of when's the right time to seriously start thinking about expansion," said Adam Silver. "Think about the state we're in the league right now, where amazing to me, that coming off these Finals you have some fans saying, 'there's only one good team in the league.'

"I'm thinking, if people really believe that even though we have 450 of the best players in the world and 450 players can only form one really good team, it doesn't make sense to expand in terms of dilution of talent.

"I don't want to put a precise timeline on it, but it's inevitable. At some point we'll start looking at growth of franchises. That's always been the case in this league. Seattle will no doubt be on a short list of cities we'll look at."

Before Game 1 of The Finals, Silver was asked by Danny Leroux about expansion.

"Expansion is not something we’re looking at right now. It is less a function of labor peace, it more goes to the strength of a 30-team league," said Silver. 

Silver cited the financial health for all 30 NBA teams needs to be addressed before expansion.

"I have no doubt at some point we’ll turn back to it, but at least in my last discussions with our owners on this, most of them said let’s keep focusing on the health of these 30 teams and the quality of the competition. When we feel we’re in a better place with the 30 teams we have, maybe at that point we can look to expand."