Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who is currently guiding Team USA as it prepares for the upcoming World Cup, is enthusiastic about the possibility of NBA expansion, particularly to Las Vegas and Seattle, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
“It feels right,” Kerr said. “Obviously it’s not my department, but Vegas and Seattle seem to be such smart franchises. It’s a shame that we ever lost the Sonics in the first place. But as you look forward and you think of what we need, we need a couple of Western time slots. Think about all the doubleheaders on TV you have where the second game is starting at 8:40 central time. We lost a couple of West Coast time slots back when Seattle and Vancouver left the league. It hurt the TV schedule, which hurt the whole league schedule.
“You factor in Vegas for the time slot. But also just how great of a venue this is for summer league, USA Basketball, the fans here have proven they’ll come out, they love the Aces. The Knights just won the Stanley Cup, the Raiders are filling it up every Sunday. So this seems like a really good next team.”
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
- The U.S. Select Team outplayed Team USA in a scrimmage on Friday, emerging victorious by a final score of 47-39 after two 10-minute periods. According to Joe Vardon of The Athletic, Kerr was unfazed by the senior team’s defeat. “It’s a time-honored tradition of USA Basketball,” Kerr said. “Everybody knows the Grant Hill, Bobby Hurley story from ’92 (defeating the Dream Team in a scrimmage ahead of the Barcelona Olympics). In 2019, for the last World Cup, the Select Team came in, kicked our butts, and that’s the whole point. You want to get great talent to come in and challenge you and that’s what the Select Team did today.”
- Harry Giles‘ agent, Daniel Hazan, tells Ian Begley of SNY.tv that the free agent big man recently worked out for the Magic and has a workout scheduled with the Warriors next week (Twitter link). Giles will be in Miami on Saturday working out for Brooklyn. The former first-round pick is eligible for a two-way contract and all three clubs have at least one two-way spot available, as our tracker shows. Giles, who dealt with major knee injuries early in his career, last played for Portland in 2020/21.
- Former NBA veteran J.J. Barea will be the new head coach of Puerto Rico’s Guaynabo Mets, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). It will be the longtime guard’s first coaching stint, Charania adds.
This has to be one of the weakest US teams in the last few years. These guys will have a hard time at the World Cup.
I have the opposite view. Go USA!
Why Las Vegas, home of corruption and evil gambling that ruins lives, and not San Jose, a top 10 USA city in terms of population+economy+massive amount of sports fans who pack out Sharks/Quakes/49ers? The Bay Area can easily house two NBA teams if NYC and LA can.
The Warriors would stop any attempt to put another team in the Bay Area. No way that happens. Pro sports leagues all love Las Vegas now that they have embraced gambling. Vegas now has NFL, NHL, and MLB (soon) teams – it is just a matter of time before they get an NBA team.
Dramatic much there? Lol.
Las Vegas is the correct choice. It should be Las Vegas, and I hope it’s Las Vegas. It’s a great city. The “evil” gambling thing is laughable.
What the league *doesn’t* need is more teams in California. There are already plenty enough. The NY and LA argument also doesn’t check, as you’re talking about cities with populations of 8m and 3m people, versus San Jose pushing 1m.
A bit dramatic entrance there. Oakland lost 2 teams, one still in the making. There will never be 2 teams in the Bay Area again. San Francisco teams love owning and holding rights to the Bay Area. 49ers, Giants, and Golden State flourish because of one town, one team mentality. Had San Francisco opened “rights” to A’s or Raiders, they would have been in San Jose. San Francisco did not want either organization to gain further ground in their territory. This left them leaving for Las Vegas because the Oakland government officials are incumbent and couldn’t get a proper deal done to keep both or one team in Oakland. It’s doesn’t look good for any sports venue to consider moving in the Bay Area in the near future or ever again.
I think Vegas and Seattle are legit shots at new franchises. I wouldn’t be surprised if they look at Mexico City since baseball and NFL is exploring that idea. Also, Baltimore looks like it could hold a solid fan base if the city could afford it. Since the league is salary capped, Baltimore could do well with a NBA team. Ravens manage well with salary cap.
Harry Giles is a good dude
And the Warriors need bigs. They should give the kid a chance if he’s healthy and fit.
The problem is that Harry Giles is not a good basketball player.
Ya but he’s a good dude!
I think Kerr will be exposed at how sorry of a coach he is. He has been blessed with players who know basketball. I have not seen to many adjustments from him. He is blessed curry had his best game in game 4 NBA finals in 2022.
Kerr has been exposed more than a few times. Anytime he doesn’t have a stacked, boatload of All-Stars, his team mostly fails – that ’20 season was downright embarrassing.
Team USA will be fine though, just too talented …… same with Canada.
Too tall for warriors lol