NBA Rumors: Targeted date for expansion teams would give league a huge boost

NBA Rumors: With the whispers of expansion on the horizon, the NBA would be getting a huge boost if they managed to pull it off by the 2027-28 season.

For the past few years, whispers and murmurs of potential expansion in the NBA have run rampant. At least thus far, none of that smoke has revealed a real fire - until of late. It seems that over the past calendar year, there's been serious progress made on the front to bring in two more teams to the Association. While the league has done its job in quieting down the noise on the expansion front, it's impossible not to feel the excitement around the league about the possibility of it.

According to a latest report via ESPN, the NBA could be "targeting" the 2027-28 season for when these expansion teams would begin playing regular season games. I'm sure we're going to find out pretty soon about how feasible that is but it's clear the league is on the precipice of making history with this potential decision.

But if this report is accurate and that we could be just a few years away from the introduction of two new teams in the league, it would give the NBA a huge boost on the popularity and intrigue front.

The NBA continues to grow as a league

One of the best ways any sports league can bring new eyeballs to its product is through expansion. When, or if, the NBA would go down this path, it would bring in two new markets and perhaps even a generation of fans that may or may not already be following the league. No matter where the league decides to expand to, it's pretty safe to say that there would be a huge boost in excitement for that 2027-28 season - assuming that's a fair timeline.

As the game of basketball continues to grow across the globe, expansion was only a matter of time in the NBA. It's been over 20 years since the last time we had relocation or real expansion in the Association. It's no surprise that the league is genuinely and seriously thinking about pulling the trigger on adding more teams in the next 3-5 years.

Now that expansion is looking more and more like a reality, the only question that remains is what cities will be awarded the expansion teams? That could be a bit more complicated of an answer.