The New York Knicks have won the third iteration of the NBA Cup, and though not the NBA Finals, it’s their first, long-awaited trophy since 1973.
Speaking before the instant classic between the Knicks and San Antonio Spurs, NBA commissioner Adam Silver addressed the future of the tournament, which so far has seen the semifinals and final game held in Las Vegas.
“We’re talking with Amazon Prime about whether it makes sense to maybe go to some unique locations for the final game,” Silver told reporters before the Cup Final. “They have suggested, for example, some like storied college arenas. We’re just looking at other ways we could do this.”
Speaking of Las Vegas hosting NBA games, Silver also commented on future domestic expansion of the league, with both the host city of the NBA Cup, and Seattle, the former home of the SuperSonics, now Oklahoma City Thunder, being named as the top two locations prime for new teams.
Silver Talks Future Of The NBA Cup As Knicks Win Title
Introduced in 2023, the NBA Cup was one of many of Silver’s bold experiments in the league. Taken from European soccer and the idea of a domestic tournament for teams to compete in over the course of the regular season, the Cup has since garnered more positive attention after previous reluctance from players, team staff, and fans.
But seeing the tight matchups in both this year’s semifinals and championship game, the future of the NBA Cup looks bright.
“Commissioner Adam Silver created the NBA Cup in 2023 to generate more interest earlier in the calendar among both fans and the players, and it has largely worked,” Joe Vardon wrote for The Athletic. “The final four teams aren’t known until just a few days before, and the league wants the championship held at a neutral site.”
When speaking about the Cup’s future Silver was adamant that in the next iterations of the tournament, he and the league office are open to making more changes to what has so far been a successful venture.
In September, the NBA announced next year’s tournament will feature semifinal games at home arenas for the higher-seeded team, not the previous neutral site in Las Vegas that has been the case over the past three years.
But still, Silver said, “We’ve loved our experience in Vegas,” and though the league and Amazon Prime are keen on keeping the final game in a neutral ground, changes could be coming to the NBA Cup’s structure.
For now, though, the Knicks, led by NBA Cup MVP Jalen Brunson, are champions. Along with the help of Tyler Kolek, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Mitchell Robinson, New York took down Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs, finally able to claim a title, despite it not being the NBA Finals.
NBA Commissioner On League Expansion
Silver also talked about the future expansion of the league at the NBA Cup Final. Talks of adding new teams have been prevalent since he first engaged with the idea a few years ago, but since then, the commissioner has remained relatively quiet on adding a 31st and 32nd team into a league that hasn’t seen expansion since 2004.
While Silver stayed a bit mum on the league’s direct plans, he targeted both Las Vegas and Seattle as the top candidates, two cities that have been chiefly named as ripe for new teams.
“I‘d say in terms of domestic expansion, that is something we’re continuing to look at,” he told the press before the 2025 NBA Cup Final. “It’s not a secret we’re looking at this market in Las Vegas. We are looking at Seattle. We’ve looked at other markets, as well. I’d say I want to be sensitive there about this notion that we’re somehow teasing these markets, because I know we’ve been talking about it for a while.”
Though not Silver’s first time openly addressing the idea of putting two new teams in the NBA and naming the expected cities, he remained firm that a major decision like this wouldn’t have an answer until sometime next year.
“I think now we’re in the process of working with our teams and gauging the level of interest and having a better understanding of what the economics would be on the ground for those particular teams,” he added. “And then sometime in 2026 we’ll make a determination.”
The NBA experiment in Las Vegas seemingly worked, and with Seattle still writhing from the SuperSonics moving to Oklahoma City, the two Pacific time zone locations feel almost certain for a future in the league.
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