JJ Redick brought up an interesting fact on The Big Podcast with Shaquille O’Neal when he discussed the level of competition during the ’80s and ’90s that Michael Jordan faced because of the expansion teams the NBA kept adding in that era.
“A lot of times, we’re comparing eras. I’ll say this with Michael Jordan, and I don’t mean this to be controversial. During his heyday, six teams were added to the NBA. There were 90 players added to the NBA. Does that not water it down? I’m not talking playoffs by the way, no chance. But you’re not telling me that the league for a little bit is going to be watered down.
When Michael Jordan entered the NBA, the league featured 23 teams with the latest addition being the Dallas Mavericks in 1980. From 1988 to 1995, the NBA added six new teams to the league (Hornets/Pelicans, Heat, Timberwolves, Raptors, Grizzlies, and Magic) who went through years of rebuilding after constructing bare-minimum rosters through the expansion draft.
This did dilute the level of competitiveness across the NBA, a fact that is brought up to criticize some of the regular season records and achievements of the time given the talent disparity between the top teams and the lottery teams. But as Redick said, it cannot take anything Jordan achieved in the NBA Playoffs against the absolute best the NBA had to offer.
The NBA Hasn’t Expanded Since 2004
The last expansion team to join the NBA was the Charlotte Bobcats in 2004, who are now known as the Hornets after the New Orleans Hornets rebranded to the Pelicans. After the NBA hit 30 teams, we have seen the league stick with it for the last 20 years. But it seems another expansion of the NBA is inevitable, with cities already competing to bring the next NBA franchise to their home arena.
The rapid expansion in the 1980s and 1990s meant that the quality of players had to mature with the league, which led to an overall decline in talent. Another expansion would result in the same thing, but the league has acknowledged that there are more talented players than ever now who don’t get a shot as part of the 450 roster spots available across the 30 teams.
If the NBA was to expand in the coming years, they’d likely add only two more teams. Las Vegas seems certain to have a franchise whenever expansion is announced, with people like LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal announcing their intentions to be owners of the NBA’s Las Vegas franchise.
There is a lot of competition for what other team could enter the NBA in the event of an expansion, with fans desperately asking for Seattle to get a team once again. The city has one of the richest basketball cultures outside hotspots like California, New York, and Texas, and they lost their team in 2007 when the SuperSonics were moved by ownership to Oklahoma City.
Like LeBron with Vegas, Kevin Durant is heavily interested in being part of the ownership group of a Seattle franchise given the SuperSonics drafted him before the team was moved to OKC.
An expansion would inject a lot more fire into the league and increase competitiveness over the long haul while giving more young players opportunities in the NBA.