Seattle has reason to celebrate before the Super Bowl. The city’s decades-long wait for the return of basketball might be over. A high-level meeting between Washington Governor Bob Ferguson and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver could signal the revival of the Seattle Supersonics, a franchise that created a generation of hoopers. This is also a hint about the NBA expansion plans going full steam ahead. But what does the return of the Sonics mean for certain NBA stars’ ownership dreams?

The NBA’s domestic expansion plans used to thrill Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James, among a few others. Both expressed their desires to become team owners of a brand-new franchise. They neither want to collaborate nor do they want to enter existing franchises.

The Sonics aren’t technically brand new. And Shaq and Bron want to own a team in Las Vegas for their distinct reasons. But Adam Silver’s latest moves indicate he’s proactively working on NBA Europe and a Seattle team, while Las Vegas is on his radar yet.

NBA’s communications team confirmed that Gov. Ferguson’s office reached out to the league first. Ferguson says he had a productive phone call with the NBA Commissioner to resurrect professional basketball in the Emerald City. A spokesperson from the Governor’s office said in a statement how much this talk personally means to him.

“As a kid, the governor grew up attending many Sonics games and attending the Lenny Wilkens basketball camp. The governor recently reached out to Commissioner Adam Silver, requesting an introductory meeting. They had a good conversation, and the governor offered to be helpful,” the statement read.

Seattle has been without the Supersonics since 2008 after the franchise moved to Oklahoma City. Emerald City has been living their hoops love vicariously through Thunder, but they really want the team that Gary Payton, Ray Allen, and Gus Williams created and gave way to a generation with Kevin Durant and Jamal Crawford.

Previously, Silver hosted a massive conference in London with Pau Gasol and global sports capital groups to build momentum for NBA Europe. He’s taken the first logistical steps for the NBA expansion. But it would disappoint Shaq and Bron’s future pursuits.

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Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James’ dream just got pushed down the priority list

The Climate Pledge Arena was built on the old KeyArena site in 2021. There’s a Big Chicken outlet in this arena serving as a marker of Shaquille O’Neal’s plan to make his favorite comfort food a sports viewing staple. But the Big Aristotle’s ambitions are far greater.

Since Adam Silver announced that the NBA is planning to add more teams in 2024, Shaq declared he wants to bring Vegas its own NBA team. While the Aces represent it in the WNBA, it’s sorely missing an NBA team. Las Vegas is where Shaq launched Big Chicken, Shaq Fantasy Labs, and other businesses, has his DJ events there, and is where his dream youth facility is under construction.

But while Shaq wanted to rep the Entertainment Capital in the NBA, LeBron James hinted that he wanted to own a Vegas team too. Shaq immediately fired back that he would not collaborate with James and wants to be the chief shotcaller.

Stephen A. Smith also claimed that the NBA Board of Governors would rather approve Shaq over Bron. Meanwhile, O’Neal publicly asked Mark Cuban, the former majority owner of the Mavericks, to help him with a Vegas team on The Big Podcast. Cuban agreed on the caveat that Shaq brings LeBron on board.

While Shaq is open to collaborating with James now, they have bigger rivals. Seattle could present a strategic dilemma for them and the NBA. A Vegas team would cost at least $7 billion because it won’t be possible to simply share the Aces facility longterm. Seattle has been ready for basketball for two decades, ready to house the new Sonics in ClimatePledge Arena when it comes.

While Seattle has the turnkey solution of an existing arena and a dormant, beloved brand, the Las Vegas bid favored by James and O’Neal relies heavily on the city’s recent transformation into a global sports destination and the A’ja Wilson-led Aces repping basketball. An NBA expansion will need two teams, so Vegas and Seattle could be the expected choices. But Gov. Ferguson’s initiative might put Seattle at the top of Adam Silver’s to-do list rather than dealing with Shaq and Bron’s pipe dreams.