What did NBA commissioner Adam Silver say about new expansion teams from outside USA and Canada?

NBA commissioner Adam Silver has opened the door to new expansion teams from outside the United States and Canada joining the league.

When could the NBA have new teams outside the USA and Canada?

Speaking ahead of Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and the Mavericks, which Boston comfortably won, the 62-year-old, who has been in his current post since 2014, revealed there was “an enormous amount of interest” in the NBA expanding its borders, although hinted it wouldn’t be happening in the immediate future.

“It’s not preordained that we will expand at this time,” Silver began. “But I know there’s an enormous amount of interest out there.

“At some point, we’d like to look outside the United States. In addition to Canada. This may not be the right moment to do that, but I’m thinking long-term as well.”

Where could new NBA franchises come from?

Silver has previously suggested a team from Mexico City could be one of the potential new additions to the league, with it being closer to Los Angeles than New York one of the reasons cited: “One day, I think that it would be incredible to actually expand to a market like Mexico City,” he said in November last year.

The Mexico City Capitanes already play in the G League, the NBA’s minor league organisation, joining in 2021.

NBA’s previous moves beyond the US border

While the NBA is most typically associated with the United States, two of the 30 current teams in the league originally hail from Canada, although one has relocated south of the border. The Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies were added to the NBA in 1995, the second most recent expansion draft (the Charlotte Bobcats, now Hornets, joined in 2004).

The Raptors became the first team from outside the States to win an NBA Championship in 2019, while the Grizzlies moved to Memphis after six seasons in Vancouver, leaving Toronto as the only non-US city with an NBA team.

Since 1990, the NBA has played a host of regular season games outside of the United States and Canada, with matches taking place in Japan (Tokyo, Yokohama and Saitama), Mexico City, London and Paris.

Two games between the Indiana Pacers and the San Antonio Spurs have been scheduled for 23 and 25 January 2025 at AccorArena in the French capital. The venue previously hosted three NBA games between 2020 and 2024.