During his Tuesday press conference before Game 1 of The Finals, Adam Silver was asked about where the NBA stands on the possibility of expansion.
"I know that was reported that when revenues were down we were looking more seriously at expansion," said Silver. "I mean, it didn't work exactly like that, largely because expansion is a multi-year process. So it wasn't as if the pandemic came, we're 40 percent down, we can quickly collect some expansion revenue. So you know, yes, it's true that we actually had some time while we were initially shut down and we were meeting more often with our teams to think a little bit more about it. But it seemed the consensus was certainly during a pandemic that wasn't the right time to expand, but that we should continue to consider it.
"I'll say what I think is lost sometimes is that from an economic standpoint, the league looks at it is that we're in essence selling equity in the league. You have 30 partners and just say hypothetically we expanded by two more teams, then you would have 32 partners. So the extent you have a national television deal or global television rights, instead of it being divided 30 ways, it's divided 32 ways. So it's sort of cash up front, depending upon what you sell the expansion team for, but it's not necessarily the windfall that I think people think it is.
"The most important considerations for us when we look at expansion is, will it ultimately grow the pie? Meaning it's potentially 30 more jobs if you expand with two teams. You expand the league's footprint. How does that help us in varying ways, sort of increased support nationally. So we'll continue to look at it. I mean, I've said this many times before, we're certainly not suggesting we're locked at 30 teams. I think at some point it will make sense to expand, but it's just not at the top of the agenda right now."
David Aldridge reported in January that the NBA was unlikely to seriously consider expansion until at least 2022.