Hold on, Adam Silver said what now?
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Silver → hold → what
The NBA commissioner informed league owners that Seattle is no longer a "lock" for expansion?
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Seattle → inform → expansion
That's the word according to a new report from ESPN, and if you're a Seattleite, you just spit out your $9 oat-milk latte.
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you → accord → latte
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page → contain → partners
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News → sign → wager
This content was created by a team that works independently from the FOX newsroom.
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that → create → newsroom
Last March, all 30 of the NBA's owners voted in favor of exploring expansion in Seattle and Las Vegas.
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30 → vote → Seattle
The thought was that this would finally lead to a Sonics return after the team left the Emerald City for Oklahoma City in 2008.
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team → lead → 2008
ESPN's Brian Windhorst was on television telling Seattle fans to get excited.
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Windhorst → tell → fans
But Friday, Windhorst's latest article left fans exasperated.
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article → leave → fans
The acclaimed NBA reporter wrote that while Silver is a "full-go" on expanding to Vegas, Seattle is far from a guarantee.
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Seattle → write → guarantee
The commissioner reportedly mentioned Mexico City as an expansion alternative in a meeting with the board of governors last month.
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commissioner → mention → governors
This didn't officially break any promises, but it did seem to violate an unwritten understanding.
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it → break → understanding
It was no accident that the aforementioned owners' vote named Vegas and Seattle exclusively.
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vote → name → Vegas
The former is one of the world's foremost entertainment capitals, and the latter has a starving fan base and state-of-the-art venue in Climate Pledge Arena.
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latter → have → Arena
Just as notably, One Roof Sports — the group spearheading the Sonics' return — recently landed a billionaire backer in Melinda French Gates.
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Sports → spearhead → Gates
At the heart of all this is Silver's attempt to increase franchise values across the league.
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attempt → increase → league
And right now, the expectation is that bids for a new team in Vegas could exceed $10 billion.
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bids → exceed → billion
Seattle's bids, meanwhile, are expected to be substantially lower, perhaps because the city already has an NBA-ready arena.
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city → expect → arena
Prospective owners don't just want revenue from ticket sales and television contracts.
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owners → want → sales
They want the money that comes with controlling an arena, too.
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that → want → arena
But an ownership group outside One Roof Sports wouldn't necessarily have access to those revenue streams without negotiating a deal with the arena's operators.
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group → have → operators
And building another venue would add billions to an already enormous investment — assuming the city would even approve a second NBA arena.
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city → build → arena
That gives One Roof a significant advantage over competing Seattle bidders and little incentive to offer anything close to $10 billion.
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That → give → billion
But Silver has leverage of his own.
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Silver → have → own
And that's where Mexico City comes in.
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City → come → ?
By floating a city south of the border, Silver is saying that the league can go elsewhere.
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league → float → border
Could it just be posturing to drive up Seattle's bids?
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it → posture → bids
But Silver has made no promises to Seattle — nor has he committed to adding two teams at once, assuming he adds two at all.
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he → make → two
This, of course, is driving some people in the Emerald City bonkers.
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This → drive → City
As former Seattle Post-Intelligencer sports columnist Jim Moore posted on X above a picture of Silver: "This s—t is laughable.
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t → post → Silver
It never ends.
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It → end → ?
When does Seattle finally say f—k off to this guy?"
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Seattle → say → guy
Sonics fans have been jerked around for 18 years.
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fans → jerk → years
But Silver has a job to do — dirty as it may seem.
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it → have → job
His responsibility isn't to make things right with Seattle.
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things → make → Seattle
It's to get the best possible deal for the league's 30 existing owners.
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It → get → owners
And if invoking Mexico City helps him squeeze another billion or two out of a Seattle bidder, don't expect him to apologize.
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him → invoke → bidder
Just don't expect Sonics fans to forgive him, either.
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fans → expect → him
The Aporia
