NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is "holding to a stance that the league is not ready to add an expansion team in the eager and deep-pocketed Seattle market," according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. Silver this week said, "Seattle is a wonderful market. It would be very additive to the league to have a team there. But we're not planning on expanding right now, so it's not a function of price." Windhorst noted the NBA currently is "dealing with a problem spot in Milwaukee." The Bucks' lease at the BMO Harris Bradley Center expires in '17, which has "essentially established a deadline to deal with the situation." It is unlikely Silver would take any "meaningful steps on expansion with the Bucks' situation unresolved." Silver said that in "addition to the raw dollars," he also is "worried about what could happen to the level of play in the league if another team or two were added." Silver: "I and the owners will look at not only the dilution of economic opportunities with one more partner to divide national and international money but also dilution of talent. Right now some are already making comments about the (Eastern Conference), so is it the ideal time to be adding another 15 or 30 players to the league?" He added, "We don't have 30 profitable teams in the NBA, and while we've made progress, there are still teams that aren't competitive enough" (ESPN.com, 2/12).
