NBA's Las Vegas expansion team may not debut until 2029-30 season

"There was not as much discussion around Seattle as there was around Las Vegas, largely because... it's not even clear what the site will be, let alone the arena yet," Silver said after the Board of Governors meeting. "Therefore, it's a much longer timeline before we can throw the ball up for NBA basketball. On the other hand, in Seattle, we have had operational groups out to Climate Pledge. You clearly have a state-of-the-art arena there. It may require some modifications for NBA basketball. If we were opening in five weeks, we could be ready in Seattle."

Now Mike Vorkunov's reporting at The Athletic says it may be 2029-30 before the NBA tips off in Las Vegas.

The league had initially hoped its new expansion franchises would begin play during the 2028-29 season — if it added ones in Las Vegas and Seattle — but it has explored whether a Sin City team could debut in 2029-30 instead. However, that is just a discussion at this point.