Away from the court, the NBA’s Board of Governors on Wednesday announced expansion plans for the city of Seattle and Las Vegas. To fans in Seattle, the news brought joy to a community that had waited for more than a decade since its last team, the Seattle Supersonics, left for Oklahoma. However, not everyone feels the same way, and that includes popular NBA analyst Bill Simmons, who arrived at a very different and unique conclusion.

Simmons, on Monday, on “The Ringer” podcast, did not mince his words about how the NBA has managed the public narrative around its expansion process: “So, if you live in Seattle and you read and consumed all the stuff the last week or so, you’re like, ‘This is amazing. We’re getting the Sonics back. Here we go.’ That’s not what’s happening, and I think it’s really weird how the league is handling this.” The league’s announcement seemed intentionally muddy, stating that owners had approved “exploration of expansion to Las Vegas and Seattle,” and not actual expansion. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver himself was explicit, saying they could add both cities, one, or none, and no guarantees have been made.

Furthermore, Simmons extended the critique from communication failure into a direct challenge of what the league should have said instead: “Why not just be transparent and say, ‘Hey, we’re just curious to see what we get for these expansion teams. This doesn’t mean we’re going to have expansion.’ Instead, you’ve completely led these poor Seattle people on, who now think they’re getting a team. And I don’t know if that’s true.”

Sources from The Ringer suggest that a bid of $10 billion or more from another city could lead the league to abandon consideration of Seattle or Las Vegas, as financial considerations, rather than market allegiance, are the primary drivers of this decision. According to one NBA ownership source, the primary driver for most owners is financial gain.

The expansion process was expected to launch after the league completed its 2023 CBA and 2024 media deals, but commissioner Silver repeatedly put the brakes on those talks publicly and privately. Seattle has been in this waiting room before, and the financial structuring of Wednesday’s vote made it plain why. Each new franchise is expected to cost between $7 billion and $10 billion, with the fees divided equally among the 30 current teams, meaning each existing owner reportedly stands to collect at least $650 million, and potentially far more if a bidding war develops.

Bill Simmons Sends Warning to NBA Over Seattle Expansion

He didn’t stop there. Simmons reserved his sharpest passage not for the league’s PR strategy, but for what it owes a city it already failed once: “If the goal is we have to right a wrong in Seattle, first of all, you never should have took the team from Seattle in the first place. Criminal when it happened. I still can’t believe it happened. They let it happen, and they didn’t rectify it for almost 20 years. You better know you’re going to have a team in Seattle in the next three years, because to extend this and make it seem like it’s going to happen and then pull the rug out from under them again would be pretty f**ed up.”

Seattle lost the SuperSonics in 2008 when the franchise was relocated to Oklahoma City, where it became the Thunder. The move has remained one of the most criticised franchise relocations in American sports history, and the city has had no resolution since. The NBA, on the other hand, last expanded in 2004, when the Charlotte Bobcats joined as the league’s 30th franchise at a fee of $300 million.

Each new franchise is now expected to cost between $7 billion and $10 billion, a 25x increase that makes plain just how financially motivated this moment is. Kraken owner Samantha Holloway made her interest in bringing the NBA back to Seattle clear, and has increased her ownership stake in Climate Pledge Arena, which was built with basketball in mind. Seattle has done its part, as the arena is ready, the ownership interest is credible, and the only uncertainty is not coming from the city’s end.

Simmons’ two arguments are the same argument at different volumes. To him, the NBA handled the communication poorly, and given Seattle’s history, poor communication is not a neutral act. It is a repeat of the same institutional indifference that cost the city its team the first time.

And the earliest a new team could begin play is the 2028-29 season, with a final decision expected by the end of 2026. This is a long runway for a fanbase being asked, once again, to wait and trust. And if the league walks away from Seattle after this week’s coverage, no press conference will paper over what follows. The rug, as Simmons put it, cannot be pulled twice.