The NBA TV deal is done, is a Seattle expansion next?

SEATTLE — The NBA has finalized a new multibillion-dollar TV and digital rights deal, according to the Associated Press. The deal could open up the possibility of expansion and a return of the Sonics to Seattle.

On Wednesday afternoon, Andrew Marchand of the Athletic reported the NBA has finalized contracts with Seattle-based Amazon, NBC, and ESPN in an 11-year, $76 billion dollar deal.

According to Marchand, NBA owners could approve the deal as early as Tuesday at the Summer League in Las Vegas. TNT and TBS could still attempt to match, according to Marchand, but the league is hoping to announce by July 26.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has already publicly stated that the league will turn to expansion after finalizing the deal.

Silver said on June 6 that once the TV deal is done, “It doesn’t mean we’re going to announce that now we’re ready to add teams. It means that there will be a committee of NBA governors that will focus on it. There are clearly markets out there that are very interested and will run through a process. But I actually am looking forward to that. I think that the league — it’s not preordained that we will expand this time, but I know there’s an enormous amount of interest out there.”

“I’m actually very excited about turning to that process, but first we’ve just got to be finished with the media deals,” Silver added.

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell told KOMO News in late June that “every week, I’m having some kind of meeting and discussion on bringing back the Sonics. You’re gonna see this summer, for example, a lot of Sonic buzz, which we need to signal to the NBA that we want a team. We know this is a good market.”

KOMO Sports Director Niko Tamurian and Senior Reporter Chris Daniels are tracking every development on the weekly Podcast, “Inside the Arena,” which is available on Apple, Spotify, YouTube and airs on ARC Seattle every Friday at 6:30 p.m.