City of Las Vegas Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Las Vegas, Motum, Taylor, Lockout

July 19th, 2015 at 3:58pm CST by Arthur Hill

The success of the summer league in Las Vegas has created hopes that the city may one day have its own NBA team, writes Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald. Former commissioner David Stern planted the seed during a 2007 meeting with Mayor Oscar Goodman, and the annual summertime gathering has strengthened the city’s position. The 20,000-seat MGM Grand Garden Arena is large enough to house an NBA franchise, and the NHL has started to break down the Las Vegas barrier, announcing recently that the city is a candidate for a future expansion team, along with Seattle and Quebec City. City officials should be patient, though. Celtics president Rich Gotham pointed out that the league has no immediate plans for expansion and that sentiment remains high to put a team in Seattle.

There’s more from around the world of basketball:

The Jazz have offered a partially guaranteed contract to forward Brock Motum, tweets Angus Crawford of NBA.com/Australia. Team officials were impressed by his play in the summer league. Motum is “strongly” considering Utah’s offer, but is also listening to teams in Europe (Twitter link).
Former Hornet Jeffery Taylor has turned down an offer from Maccabi of the Israeli Premier League, tweets David Pick of Eurobasket.com. The news was relayed by Taylor’s agent, Todd Ramasar.
The new contract that Miroslav Raduljica signed with Panathinaikos in the Greek League includes a $500K escape clause, according to Pick (Twitter link). The Serbian briefly played for the Wolves last season.
The NBA is risking its historic success with tough labor talk, writes Tim Bontemps of The New York Post. Both the league and the players’ union issued statements this week, reminding everyone that a potential lockout is just two years away.
Sixteen teams still have not used their $2.814MM room exception, tweets former Nets executive Bobby Marks.

Proposal For New Arena And NBA Team In Las Vegas

December 25th, 2013 at 6:10pm CST by Jonathan Nehring

Former NBA player Jackie Robinson proposed a plan earlier this week for a $1.3 billion new arena on the Las Vegas Strip, according to The Associated Press.

The proposed arena would seat 22,000, which is 76 seats shy of the largest NBA arena, The Palace of Auburn Hills. Robinson is hoping the arena will be completed by 2016 and claims the entire project will be privately funded.

Along with his hopes for completion, Robinson hopes his NBA experience and relationship with his old general manager and current NBA head of basketball operations, Kiki Vandeweghe, will attract an NBA team to this proposed arena. David Stern has previously hinted that Seattle and Las Vegas could be the next cities to be considered for NBA expansion teams.

Neil deMause of Field of Schemes points out that this exact location was the same site another group of investors unsuccessfully proposed an NBA and MLS stadium on back in 2011. While Clark County claims they have not received any submissions for land use approval, the arena is scheduled to break ground in the spring of 2014.

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City of Las Vegas

Odds & Ends: Bobcats, Expansion, Kings, Brown

July 19th, 2013 at 12:19am CST by Chuck Myron

USA Today's Sam Amick rounds up the news from the Board of Governors meeting today, which featured unanimous approval of Charlotte's name change from Bobcats to Hornets. Commissioner David Stern initially laughed off the idea of the switch, but fan support for the Hornets monicker persuaded him to take the issue seriously, Amick writes. Stern also offered hints that the league could consider expansion to Seattle and Las Vegas in the future, and he said the union's lack of an executive director has hung up the league's plans to implement human growth hormone testing by next season. Amick also passes along the league's rule adjustments, and we've got more from the meeting as we look around the Association this evening:

In May, the league imposed a deadline of 2017 for the opening of a new arena in Sacramento, but Stern indicated today that he's pleased with the progress the Kings and the city are making, as Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee observes.
The Nuggets, Wizards, Grizzlies, Suns and Knicks were all in attendance as Bobby Brown participated in a five-on-five scrimmage Wednesday, reports Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. The Knicks also saw Brown workout Tuesday, and they're reportedly moving toward a deal.
Eric Gordon tells Shams Charania of RealGM.com that the Pelicans have assured him that he's a part of the team's long-term plans.
Lakers VP Jim Buss said on NBA TV tonight that he strongly believes Kobe Bryant's torn Achilles will be healed in time for him to play in preseason games this fall, notes Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.
The Bulls may have promised a training camp invitation to Andrew Goudelock as an enticement to get him to play for their summer league team, according to Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald (Twitter link).
Raptors GM Masai Ujiri has maintained flexibility with his underwhelming free agent haul this summer, but his decision to keep the core of the team intact could have negative consequences, as Eric Koreen of the National Post examines.