The NBA could establish an expansion team outside the US
By Max Weisman
An NBA team in Mexico City? It's a possibility. While many people think the NBA will expand to Seattle and Las Vegas, the capital city of Mexico is not out of the question.
An ESPN article posted Tuesday floated the idea of the NBA putting a team in Mexico City. The league has played 33 regular season games there since 1992, the most outside of the US and Canada. The Mexico City Capitanes already play in the NBA's G League, although they aren't affiliated with a big league team.
The idea is that a team in Mexico City would allow the league to tap into Latin and South American markets. The Capitanes have played in Mexico City Arena, which has a capacity of 22,300, since it joined the G League in 2022.
Likely, though, Seattle and Las Vegas will get the expansion nods. Since the SuperSonics left Seattle in 2008, the Emerald City is the biggest market without an NBA team. With the NHL's Kraken and WNBA's Storm playing in a new arena, Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle could support an NBA team once again.
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Las Vegas has hosted the NBA's summer league since 2004, and it hosts the semifinals and finals of the NBA Cup, so the league knows fans in Vegas will care about a team of their own.
Other cities that have been floated as a potential expansion city are Montreal, Vancouver, Kansas City and Louisville. All four of those cities have NBA ready arenas, capacity wise.
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