NBA Kicking Expansion Down the Road Good for Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder would benefit from expansion being kicked down the road by the NBA after recent comments from Adam Silver.

Jun 6, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; NBA commissioner Adam Silver speaks before game one of the 2024 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-Imagn Images / Peter Casey-Imagn Images

The NBA season is right around the corner and Tuesday represented a staple day on the NBA calendar as Adam Silver met with the media following the Board of Governors Meeting to address the future of the league and any changes with the sport.

One of the hottest topics around the league right now is expansion, which feels more like a when than if topic for the association to get to at least 32 teams. The talent is overflowing with this league and markets are craving an NBA team it only makes sense as a venture to print money for the league.

However, Silver seemingly put that on the back burner this week tabbing the league as not quite ready for this move, which is a good thing for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

"There was not a lot of discussion in this meeting about expansion, but only largely not for lack of interest, it was that we had said to them that we're not quite ready," Silver said at his news conference at the conclusion of the meetings Tuesday afternoon at a luxury midtown Manhattan hotel.

"It was something that we told our board we plan to address this season, and we're not quite ready yet. But I think there's certainly interest in the process, and I think that we're not there yet in terms of having made any specific decisions about markets or even frankly to expand."

With no resolution on expansion made this offseason, that continues to kick the eventual process down the road which makes the likelihood of the league widening with the Thunder's core intact further away - which is a great thing for Oklahoma City.

Under previous expansion rules, each team would only be able to protect eight players from the expansion draft pool, which would currently lead to tough decisions for the OKC Thunder to make. The further away that decision is pushed down the line the better the odds are that the Thunder roster will shake itself out to the point that you can comfortably pick a top eight.

No matter what happens, the Oklahoma City Thunder are primed to be in position for championship contention for the foreseeable future.

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