NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum on league expansion: ‘We have no plans to expand’

NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum said Wednesday during an interview with SDNA that an agreement on a new media deal has to come first before league expansion can be negotiated.

The NBA has 30 teams — 15 franchises per conference. Seattle and Las Vegas are each rumored to receive a club in the coming years. However, despite the gossip in league circles, expansion isn’t imminent.

“At the moment, we have no plans to expand. I’ll tell you what [NBA Commissioner] Adam Silver said: ‘Before we can think about the expansion, the collective bargaining agreement with the players must be completed, and we also want to complete the agreement with the television media, which we are currently negotiating,'” he told SDNA.

Mark Tatum, Deputy Commissioner of the NBA, at SDNA: «Right now we don’t have plan to add teams to our league» pic.twitter.com/nyl40iRgiF

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“We are in the process of negotiations, which was completed in the [last] spring, and we have the rest of the season and one more year for the agreement with the domestic media.”

The NBA is in the process of signing a new media deal. The league’s current nine-year, $24 billion contract was signed in 2016 with Disney and AT&T. It increased the league’s revenue from $930 million to about $2.6 billion.

Since the deal brings in an average of $2.6 billion per season, it’s essentially the world’s second-richest deal for domestic rights. It expires after the 2024-25 season.

NBA’s 45-day negotiation period with ESPN/ABC, TNT for the next media rights deal begins March 9

ESPN/ABC and Turner air a combined 165 regular-season games. Warner Brothers Discovery, which owns Turner Sports, airs 106 games via NBA TV.

The league’s 45-day negotiation period with ESPN/ABC and TNT for the next media rights deal formally begins Saturday, March 9.

“We’ve decided that we won’t focus on expansion until these backlogs are completed. Then we’ll see if we expand,” Mark Tatum added.

“We haven’t decided if we’re going to do it yet, it’s not something that’s on the horizon. At some point, the natural progression of leagues is to get bigger, and I think we’re going to revisit that to see if it actually makes sense.”

Moreover, the NBA has added seven more franchises since 1988. Four teams were established in 1988 and 1989 — the Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, and Minnesota Timberwolves.

In 1995, the NBA created two new teams in Canada — the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies. The Grizzlies left Vancouver in 2001 and relocated to Memphis.

The league expanded to 30 with the Charlotte Bobcats in 2004, following the 2002 relocation of the Hornets to New Orleans. In 2014, the Bobcats rebranded to the Charlotte Hornets.

Of course, the New Orleans Pelicans are recognized as being the new franchise that was founded in 2002.

The Seattle SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008 and rebranded to the Oklahoma City Thunder.