The NBA may move a step closer to adding teams in Seattle and Las Vegas next week when expansion — which has been a topic for some time — will again be discussed by the league's board of governors, two people with knowledge of the matter told The Associated Press on Monday.
A vote is planned on whether to go forward with those two cities as the sole expansion targets at this point, the people said.
The people spoke on condition of anonymity because those details were not released publicly.
It would take a three-fourths majority of governors to go forward, meaning 23 of the 30 teams would have to approve the motion. Owners are also expected to get an update next week on where the NBA and FIBA stand on plans for a new league in Europe, one of the people said.
ESPN first reported that the vote was planned.
Expansion being on the agenda is not a surprise: the board gathers for only a few meetings each year, and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has said on multiple occasions that a decision will be made by the end of 2026 on whether the 30-team league will add one or two new franchises in the coming years.
“Not a secret, we’re looking at this market in Las Vegas. We are looking at Seattle,” Silver said in December, while in Las Vegas for the NBA Cup final. “We’ve looked at other markets as well. I’d say I want to be sensitive there about this notion that we’re somehow teasing these markets, because I know we’ve been talking about it for a while.”
There have been countless factors to consider, including what the expansion fee for a new franchise will be — it will be in the billions, with some in the league thinking a number exceeding $6 billion is not out of the question — and what adding two more teams will mean for the on-court product.
Silver said last July that the league's owners wanted an “in-depth analysis” of what expansion would look like, including what it would mean for the dilution of talent and the potential effects — good and bad — of selling equity in the league.
If both Las Vegas and Seattle were added, it’s also long been believed that an existing team would need to be moved from the current Western Conference list into the Eastern Conference to create two 16-team sides of the league. Geographically, Minnesota, Memphis and New Orleans would be the most logical candidates to go from West to East.
Seattle had a team until the SuperSonics were moved to Oklahoma City in 2008. Las Vegas has wanted a team for some time; Basketball Hall of Famer Magic Johnson is among the names most often mentioned as part of potential ownership if a team gets awarded there.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA
NBA commissioner Adam Silver greets Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., as they take their seats before an NBA basketball game between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Utah Jazz, Friday, March 13, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
NBA commissioner Adam Silver greets NBA referee Ashley Moyer-Gleich as he arrives for an NBA basketball game between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Utah Jazz, Friday, March 13, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chaotic weather coast to coast in the U.S. — from unusual heat in California to damaging winds around Washington, D.C. — put over 100 million people in the path of extreme conditions on Monday.
Storms across the nation's eastern half forced airlines to cancel more than 3,000 flights nationwide Monday, and many schools closed early in the mid-Atlantic states where high winds and tornadoes were in the forecast.
Blizzards buried parts of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota while torrential rains flooded homes and washed out roads in Hawaii.
In Washington, the House of Representatives postponed votes because of difficulty traveling with inclement weather.
Airport delays and cancellations piled up Monday in some of the nation’s largest airports — including those in New York, Chicago and Atlanta.
“This is what happens in March and April,” said Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “It’s a clash in the air masses. Winter, not wanting to let go from the North, and then obviously the sun’s getting a little stronger, it’s warming up in the South.”
The storm system that dropped snow by the foot in the Midwest is barreling toward the East Coast with dangerously high winds and potential for “producing strong and long track tornadoes,” the weather service warned Monday.
“Today, it’s the wind that’s really the threat,” said Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor Gensini.
A stretch from parts of South Carolina to Maryland appeared most likely to experience the greatest damaging winds Monday afternoon, the weather service said. That could include Raleigh, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; and the nation’s capital.
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein urged residents to enable emergency alerts on their phones ahead of expected wind gusts topping 70 mph (112 kph).
Beyond the threat to lives and property, “whether it’s wind gusts from a squall line, blizzard or snow, or just wind because of the storm, you’re looking at several major airports being impacted,“ said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Tyler Roys.
Blizzard conditions persisted Monday in parts of Wisconsin and Michigan, where the storm brought as much as 2 feet (61 centimeters) of snow by morning.
Another round of snow and gusty winds on Monday could come close to doubling those totals in upper Michigan.
Jim Allen, 45, who lives in the Upper Peninsula, said his family stocked up on necessities. “We’re basically prepared to just kind of hunker down for a few days if we need to,” he said.
The thousands of flights canceled nationwide Monday included more than 400 in and out of Chicago O’Hare International and another 300 at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International, according to FlightAware, which tracks flight disruptions.
Kelly Price, who was trying to get home to Colorado after a family vacation in Orlando, Florida, said their Sunday night flight wasn’t canceled until the early Monday morning.
“By that time the only place for us to sleep was the airport floor. So we’re all tired and frustrated,” she said, adding that the soonest flight they could book doesn’t leave until Tuesday afternoon.
A heat dome over the Southwest will push temperatures well into the triple digits in Arizona most of the week, much earlier than the region usually sees.
Much of California is starting to feel like summer too. The San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento will see temperatures pushing toward 90 F (32 C) by midweek.
Unrelenting rains triggered landslides and flooded homes and farmland in Hawaii over the weekend.
Some areas of Maui received more than 20 inches (51 centimeters) of rain, Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen said in a social media post.
Resident and real estate broker Jesse Wald, who recorded video of a coastal road’s collapse, said parts of the road were flooded by mud and sediment.
“In the 20 years I’ve been here I’ve never seen this much rain,” he said.
Forecasters said the East Coast storms were expected leave sharply colder weather in its wake.
By Tuesday morning, wind chills below freezing were expected to reach the Gulf Coast and the Florida Panhandle with warnings in effect across the Southeast and in part of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas, forecasters warned.
To the north, rain was expected to change over to snow behind the cold front with heavy snow possible in the central Appalachians of West Virginia.
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Brumfield reported from Cockeysville, Maryland, and Seewer from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press writers Margery Beck in Omaha, Nebraska; Julie Walker in New York; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; Gary Fields in Washington; and Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed.
A man shovels snow after a snowstorm Monday, March 16, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Snow is plowed after a snowstorm Monday, March 16, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Victor Alomoto who is from Ecuador cleared the sidewalk for the River Valley Church in the North Loop Pedestrians during the snow storm in Minneapolis, Minn., on Sunday, March 15, 2026.(Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minnesota Star Tribune via AP)
Ogo Akpati and his son Brycson Akpati, 3, braved the strong winds and had fun sliding down a hill in Central Park Sunday, March 15,2026 in Brooklyn Park, MN. (Jerry Holt/Minnesota Star Tribune via AP)
Fans walk through snowy streets before an NHL hockey game between the Minnesota Wild and Toronto Maple Leafs, Sunday, March 15, 2026, in St. Paul. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
People drive on a snow-covered freeway during a snow storm Sunday, March 15, 2026, in Minneapolis. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minnesota Star Tribune via AP)
Workers clear snow off the ground Sunday, March 15, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
