Mexico City Wants an NBA Team, and Seattle Fans Have Every Right to Be Pissed

So now Mexico City wants an NBA franchise, and suddenly Seattle — the city that has been waiting EIGHTEEN YEARS to get the SuperSonics back — is being told it might not be a lock anymore. Man, come the fuck on. I actually love the idea of an NBA team in Mexico. The league should be looking at how basketball grows beyond the United States. But if Mexico City is being brought into this conversation just to squeeze another billion or two out of the Seattle ownership group, that's some nasty business.

Here's what's real as of October 16: ESPN's Brian Windhorst reports that at least one Mexico City-based group has approached the NBA's expansion adviser, PJT Partners, with a proposal for a team and a new arena district. That proposal reportedly caught the league's attention. ESPN also says Commissioner Adam Silver left NBA owners with the impression last month that Seattle wasn't guaranteed a franchise. Nobody has awarded Mexico City a team. Nobody has taken Seattle off the board. This is a reported bid, not an official expansion decision.

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And let me give Mexico its credit instead of acting like this came out of thin air. The NBA has played games in Mexico City for years, including last November's Pistons–Mavericks game. The Mexico City Capitanes are already part of the NBA G League. In January 2025, the Capitanes announced that 19,328 people attended their game against South Bay — a G League single-game attendance record at the time. You don't put nearly twenty thousand asses in seats for minor-league basketball because nobody cares about the sport.

So yes, I understand why the NBA would look at Mexico City. The market is massive, there's an established basketball audience, and a permanent NBA team could attract fans from across Mexico and Latin America. That's a legitimate argument. But don't confuse a passionate fan base with a completed business case. A new arena district is still a proposal. Full-season travel schedules, international tax rules, logistics and playing at Mexico City's altitude are real problems the league would need to solve.

Here's the thing: Seattle doesn't have to prove that people there love NBA basketball. The SuperSonics played from 1967 to 2008, won a championship in 1979, and built a whole history with players like Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp. Then the franchise moved to Oklahoma City. Those fans didn't stop caring because the owners moved the damn team. A lot of people spent their childhood cheering for a team that doesn't exist in their city anymore.

Seattle also has a modern venue in Climate Pledge Arena. The group led by Samantha Holloway, associated with the Kraken and that arena, is among the known bidders. Windhorst reports two Seattle groups are in the picture. So what seems to be the problem? Money. Sources told ESPN the Seattle offers are substantially below the numbers being floated in the fight for Las Vegas, which could reach more than $10 billion. The league doesn't appear satisfied with the bids — yet.

That 'yet' is doing a lot of fucking work. Back in March, the NBA's own Board of Governors voted to explore expansion specifically in Seattle and Las Vegas. Silver publicly praised both cities. By September, the commissioner was still saying the league wanted a decision by the end of 2026. Now we're being told Mexico City could jump into the mix. The league has the right to evaluate new options, but Seattle fans have every right to ask whether they're being used as leverage in a bidding contest.

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Look at the incentives. The NBA isn't just deciding where to put a basketball court. Existing owners get paid when the league sells new franchises. ESPN says teams have been budgeting for potential expansion-fee distributions of roughly $500 million to $600 million apiece, with one organization using $533 million as its planning number. That's not pocket change. Those numbers are reported expectations, not guaranteed payouts or an approved sale price.

And this is where it starts feeling less like 'which city deserves basketball?' and more like 'how much can the league squeeze out of the next buyer?' If Las Vegas can trigger a bidding war, maybe the NBA wants Seattle bidders to see Mexico City on the board and start writing larger checks. That's my read of the maneuver, not some confirmed secret order from Silver. But it's not an unreasonable suspicion when the money is that enormous and the league itself hasn't picked anybody.

There's another issue nobody should gloss over: Silver has never guaranteed the NBA would add exactly two teams at once. If the league stops at 31, that creates awkward scheduling and NBA Cup questions. Could a second franchise arrive later? Sure. Could Mexico City eventually earn an expansion team on its own merits? Absolutely. But those possibilities are different from saying Mexico has beaten Seattle, and any headline claiming that right now would be jumping the gun.

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I also don't like how easily this could turn into fans hating each other. Seattle fans aren't wrong for being pissed. Mexico City fans aren't wrong for wanting an NBA team. Neither fan base controls the bids, expansion fees or the league's negotiations. The billionaires and the commissioner's office do. Getting regular basketball fans arguing over who deserves a team more while everybody else debates ten-billion-dollar numbers? Yeah, that's convenient as hell for the people collecting the money.

My position is simple. Bring the Sonics back. Seriously. Seattle has waited long enough. Keep building basketball in Mexico City and evaluate that market honestly, too. But don't use Mexico City's basketball culture as a damn bargaining chip to punish Seattle for not immediately meeting a massive price tag. If the league is serious about Mexico, make the case. If it's serious about Seattle, respect the history. Either way, quit acting like fans are just background noise while the owners chase the biggest check.