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It's amazing to me that NBA players were so averse to living in Vancouver. I'd take Vancouver over half of the NBA cities.
From a players perspective, most would prefer the cities that already have pro teams, along with Las Vegas and Austin. There isn't much in Virginia Beach or Raleigh (I know they have hockey) for a 26 year-old millionaire.
Where did you read that?
It was a large downgrade for the players on the Sonics having to go from living in a city like Seattle to Oklahoma City.
My pick would be either St. Louis or Kansas City. Missouri already has 2 baseball teams, a hockey team and a football team; a basketball team would make sense to round things out.
While the Hornets playing in Oklahoma City during the post-Katrina years helped its case, it all came down to the ownership group of the SuperSonics that got Oklahoma City the team.
Clay Bennett bought the Seattle SuperSonics from Howard Shultz in 2006 with the longterm vision of moving the franchise to his hometown Oklahoma City. The Hornets playing there was just a resourceful fallback for the reasoning to get the move approved by the NBA. It didn't help that Seattle was limited in getting a new arena plan moving; the Key Arena was severely outdated by then.
The real reason Oklahoma City has a team is because;
1) Deep pockets
2) Stadium plan with an imminent construction timeline
A few years ago I remember watching the Oklahoma City Thunder versus the Memphis Grizzlies in the second round of the Western Conference Postseason (the year Memphis made it to the Western Conference Finals because of Westbrook's injury in the first round), and 15 years ago that same series would have been the Vancouver Grizzlies versus the Seattle SuperSonics.
It was just number one. The OKC arena was not NBA caliber and even after renovations, it's not on the level of KC's Sprint Center.
It had everything to do with a person with very deep pockets that wanted a team in OKC. That's it.
Really? So after the Expos left for Washington DC, they are going to go round that merry go round again?
To be honest, they just need a new stadium up there. When they were good, which they generally were competitive, they had good attendence numbers. I believe that if the Strike of 1994 didn't occur, the Expos probably would have won it all.
Vegas.... they would make good rivals for the Jazz and Suns.
Then they could move the TWolves to the Eastern Conference.
They're much more geographically compatible with Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit and Indianapolis than Utah, Portland and Denver.
The only two on that list that I know have had NBA teams are Kansas City (Sacramento Kings) and San Diego (Los Angeles Clippers)
1. Kansas City/Omaha ( Sacramento Kings )
2. Vancouver Canada ( Memphis )
3. San Diego ( LA Clippers )
4. New Orleans ( Salt Lake City )
5. New Orleans ( Charlotte NC )
6. Seattle ( Oklahoma City Oklahoma )
7. Cincinnati ( Kansas City/Omaha )
8. Saint Louis ( Atlanta )
9. Milwaukee ( Saint Louis )
My .02 the two expansion teams are going to be OAKLAND CA Golden State Warriors.......
and Virginia Beach/Norfolk VA tidewater area.
1. Golden State is moving to SAN FRANCISCO CA 2. Virginia Beach Va just made a bid for a NBA expansion team , but didn't have enough Corporate backing to build a NBA Arena.
1. Kansas City/Omaha ( Sacramento Kings )
2. Vancouver Canada ( Memphis )
3. San Diego ( LA Clippers )
4. New Orleans ( Salt Lake City )
5. New Orleans ( Charlotte NC )
6. Seattle ( Oklahoma City Oklahoma )
7. Cincinnati ( Kansas City/Omaha )
8. Saint Louis ( Atlanta )
9. Milwaukee ( Saint Louis )
Before San Diego, the Clippers were the Buffalo Braves and before becoming the Cincinnati Royals, they were the Rochester Royals. Before the Hawks were even in Milwaukee, they were the Tri Cities Blackhawks and played their games in Moline IL(actually called the Quad Cities area now). So, some of these franchises listed had moved from an even earlier location.
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