The Pareto Principle, better known as the 80/20 rule, is quite simple (yes, yes, I know, this isn’t what you came to read, but stick with me). It states that for most events, 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. 80% of the world’s money belongs to 20% of the world’s population. 80% of injuries are caused by 20% of safety hazards. This seems to be true in the NBA: 80% of the best players play for the Warriors 20% of the teams.
One way to combat that is league expansion. More teams makes for a greater spread of talent, thus reducing the likelihood of teams utterly decimating the other franchises.
The NBA hasn’t added a team since 2004 when Charlotte earned back their beloved Bobcats. It’s been 14 years since then, the longest period of stagnation in league history. It’s been revealed that the Board of Governors are open to expansion in the future, so it’s natural to speculate which cities could earn a franchise. What cities would be the best fit to host an NBA team?
Vancouver, BC (Memphis, TN)
Here, Vancouver isn’t actually getting an expansion team. Instead, the current Grizzlies move back to Vancouver in order to preserve the Grizz’s franchise history, and the NBA expands to Memphis to replace them.
Why Vancouver? Not only is it the second most popular destination among expansion advocates, it has the largest metro population in western Canada.
The Toronto Raptors are currently the only Canadian NBA team, but they are so far east that it gives the rest of Canada little to root for. By adding a western Canadian team, citizens of British Colombia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan all have a team they can call their own.
Vancouver already has basketball history, and adding a team there would not only create a tense rivalry between them and the Raptors, but also another team later on this list.
There aren’t Grizzlies in Memphis anyway.
Potential names:
Vancouver- Grizzlies
Memphis- Showboats (USFL team 1984-85), Rivermen
Las Vegas, NV
This one seems like a gimme. The NHL has already expanded there, and the Oakland Raiders are set to move to Vegas in 2020. It’s only a matter of time before the NBA follows suit.
Sin City already has an arena in place (if the Golden Knights are willing to share), and the potential fan base is there for the taking. Las Vegas is neatly nestled in between the Kings, Warriors, Lakers, Clippers, Suns, AND Jazz, so having a home town team will definitely be a hit.
We saw this with the Golden Knights: Vegas was caught in the grey territory between four teams, but the fans came in droves when they had one to call their own. In their inaugural season, the Golden Knights had an average attendance higher than the maximum hockey capacity of their arena.
Potential names:
Aces, Blackjacks, Outlaws (XFL team 2001)
Louisville, KY
Louisville is a city which has been neglected by pro sports for years. None of the five major American leagues have ever had a team in the 21st largest city in the US.
Outside of the NBA, Louisville has had a rich basketball history. The University of Louisville Cardinals have won three two NCAA titles. Not an hour away is the University of Kentucky, whose Wildcats have eight championships of their own.
Louisville hosted a team during the short tenure of the ABA. The Kentucky Colonels were league champions in 1975 and have three players in the Basketball Hall of Fame: Dan Issel, Artis Gilmore, and Louie Dampier.
Nay-sayers would argue that having an NBA team would cut into the potential revenue and fan base of UK and Louisville. However, the Detroit Pistons and Michigan Wolverines are just 45 minutes separated from each other, and they don’t seem to take issue with one another. It just seems right that a city so important to basketball should receive its own pro team.
Potential names:
Buckets (KFC sponsorship?), Colonels
St. Louis, MO
Like Vegas, St. Louis is caught in the middle of a couple teams; the Thunder, Grizzlies, Bulls, and Pacers all vie for the Missourian’s fandom. This is odd considering St. Louis has a higher metro population than Oklahoma City, Memphis, AND Indianapolis.
The city has housed two pro basketball franchises before: the ABA’s Spirits of St. Louis, and the NBA’s St. Louis Hawks, who moved to Atlanta in 1968.
The former didn’t survive the ABA-NBA merger, but the latter had quite a bit of success. They made the playoff 12 times in the 13 years they were in St. Louis and won the franchise’s only NBA title.
After the Rams departure to Los Angeles in 2015, the fans of St. Louis have been clamoring for another pro team. With an arena already in place (the Blues’ Enterprise Center), an NBA franchise is St. Louis only seems natural.
Potential names:
Spirit of St. Louis (or the St. Louis Spirits), Gatekeepers
Seattle, WA
Duh. The Supersonics left for OKC in 2008, and the city of Seattle has been begging for their team back ever since.
Before they were the Thunder, the Sonics won an championship in 1979. Eight different Hall of Famers suited up in the green and yellow, including Gary Payton and Spencer Haywood.
Should Seattle get a team back, it would instantly be the twelfth most populous NBA city.
What makes Seattle stand out more than any other location is the potential fan base. Bring Back Our Sonics has more than 23,000 Twitter followers. The Warriors and Kings played a preseason game in KeyArena, and it sold out in hours. Year in and year out, the WNBA’s Seattle Storm have one of the highest attendance rates in the league.
The driving force in the Seattle to OKC relocation was the arena. The government of Seattle was unwilling to shell over $220 million to renovate the arena, nor were they willing to spend $500 million in citizen’s taxes to fund the construction of a new arena in the suburbs.
This is no longer problematic, as a $700 Million renovation to KeyArena was recently approved. The main goal of this renovation? Make it more fit to host an NHL and NBA franchise.
Plus, the Seattle-Vancouver rivalry could have a cool name, like the Pride of Puget Sound.
Potential names:
Supersonics, obviously. The NBA shouldn’t come back to Seattle unless it’s the Supersonics.
Agree or disagree with my choices? Have a city I left out? Let me know in the comments down below, or on Twitter @zekepersources