Potential NBA expansion could benefit the Trail Blazers in a surprising way

Expansion in the NBA has been an often discussed topic, especially in the Pacific Northwest, with the Seattle SuperSonics moving to Oklahoma City in 2008. It makes too much sense for Seattle to get a new team. They have a population of nearly 800,000 and a passionate fanbase. It would also revive the PNW rivalry between the Sonics and the Portland Trail Blazers. The MLS rivalry between the Seattle Sounders and the Portland Timbers is still intense and highly entertaining, and the basketball world deserves a similar storyline.

In addition to Seattle, Las Vegas is the other city mentioned as the most likely to receive an expansion team. Vegas already has received two professional sports teams from Oakland, the Raiders (NFL) and Athletics (MLB), and is seeking to add an NBA team into the mix, although it would be from expansion rather than relocation this time around.

NBA to address possible expansion 'at some point this season'

In mid-September, ESPN's Tim Bontemps reported that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver mentioned the league would address the possibility of expanding to 32 teams "at some point this season." With Seattle and Vegas being the top two potential expansion cities, the NBA also has to consider how to balance the league in terms of the Western Conference and Eastern Conference. Only one team would have to move to the East, and a few make sense geographically, such as the Minnesota Timberwolves, Memphis Grizzlies, or New Orleans Pelicans.

But another alternative solution being floated around is eliminating the conferences entirely (subscription required), which ESPN's Bontemps and Brian Windhorst recently wrote about. Windhorst mentions that "there will potentially be a battle" to determine which team is the "fortunate" one to escape the loaded West.

You would think that eventually, the conferences would balance themselves out, and the East would become more dominant, but that hasn't been the case in quite some time. The West is finally entering an era of aging superstars. What's their prize? An ascending Victor Wembanyama, Luka Doncic, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to deal with, among several others.

Dropping conferences would benefit the Blazers in the loaded West

Windhorst writes, "Instead of dealing with that thorny competition, West executives told ESPN they believe both issues can be corrected by dropping conferences altogether and seeding teams 1 through 16 regardless of geography. The concept has been raised before. But expansion, the thinking goes, would create a reason to take a fresh look."

The NBA product is at its best when there's parity and unpredictability in the league. Expanding to 32 teams and removing the conferences would help in that aspect. For the Blazers, it would give them a much better chance of making the playoffs in a few years when their young core is entering its prime. Windhorst mentions that the expansion could be "perhaps 2-3 years from now," which would align extremely well with the Blazers' rebuilding timeline.