The Portland Trail Blazers could be sold within the next 18 months, according to league figures who spoke with Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report.

Jody Allen inherited ownership of the Blazers following the death of her brother Paul Allen in 2018.

League personnel had believed that a potential sale would wait until after the NBA's new television deal begins in 2025, but that timeline has accelerated since the end of the regular season with several industry sources saying an exploration of the market could begin this summer.

The potential ownership changes could impact how motivated the Blazers are to add talent around Damian Lillard this offseason as he could still eventually request a trade and diminish the franchise's overall value.

The NBA has been widely expected to expand to Seattle and Las Vegas in the coming years, which could be timed with the announcement of the league's next broadcast right deals.

While the league currently generates approximately $3 billion annually in its annual national broadcast revenues, it could hit $9 billion with its next deals, which would be split to approximately $300 million for every team if the league stays at 30 teams.

But expansion revenue would offer every ownership group an instant influx of cash to help offset the losses caused by the pandemic and the dip in Chinese broadcast revenues. 

“It’s fully baked,” says one source of expansion.

A year ago, Adam Silver suggested reports of a $2.5 billion expansion fee as "very low."

Sources say the NBA has prospective investors for expansion ready.

The NBA is currently in talks on new broadcast deals that could result in a doubling of the value of every franchise, sources tell Henry Abbott of TrueHoop.

The league enjoyed a massive leap in Basketball Related Income beginning for the 16-17 season with its previous broadcast deals and appear to be timing its negotations well again with the influx of competition due to streaming.

Under that scenario, the league's lowest-value franchise, the New Orleans Pelicans, would be worth more than $2 billion, while the Golden State Warriors could hit a $10 billion valuation.

This could also be the motivation for the NBA waiting to expand to Seattle and Las Vegas as has been strongly rumored.