The founder and majority owner of the Vegas Golden Knights announced that he is pursuing the award of an NBA franchise for Las Vegas.

Earlier this year, the NBA voted to formally explore expansion, with one of those potential markets including Las Vegas.

Foley intends to build the franchise on a foundation already in place in Las Vegas: majority ownership and control of the Vegas Golden Knights, the 2023 Stanley Cup champions; venue rights at T-Mobile Arena, and an organization that has operated a major professional sports franchise in the market since 2017.

“Las Vegas has earned its place among the great sports cities in America, and an NBA team belongs here,” Foley said. “We built the Golden Knights into a championship organization from the ground up, and we are prepared to do it again – with the same standard, the same commitment to this community, and the same insistence on winning. We have the market, a proven world-class arena, and a best-in-class organization in place. Our intention is to be ready the day the NBA is ready.”

[…]

Foley emphasized his respect for the NBA’s expansion process and for the Office of the Commissioner and said his group would engage on the league’s timeline and on terms set by the league and its Board of Governors.

“This is the NBA’s decision to make,” Foley said. “Our job is to provide the league a Las Vegas option that is ready, credible, and built to last.”

Either_Imagination_9 | Knicks

49 | an hour ago

So give it a couple years and Vegas will already have a Finals win

SiphenPrax | Knicks

18 | an hour ago

And will go to the NBA Finals in their first year

Either_Imagination_9 | Knicks

6 | an hour ago

And then make the finals again a couple years after winning it

ooboh | Thunder

4 | an hour ago

And lose to the … Wizards.

ImSomeRandom | NBA

1 | an hour ago

Nah it’s got to be a perennial failure known for not making it past the 2nd round. Congrats to embiid and the 76ers on their championship

fisheggsoup | Jazz

1 | 32 minutes ago

Nah, it’s gotta’ be a team in the East who’s won exactly one previous title in most of our lifetimes…

How ‘bout the Raptors?

DrFunkenstein93 | Pistons

2 | an hour ago

LA Rams style

ningdon | Raptors

1 | 5 minutes ago

They will also be allowed to go over the second apron every season without any consequences

bex199 | Pelicans

5 | an hour ago

vegas has 3 finals wins in the past 4 years

ImJeeezus | Kings

5 | an hour ago

Raiders didn’t get the memo 😞

bex199 | Pelicans

4 | an hour ago

i meant vegas basketball to be clear!

finester39 | 76ers

1 | an hour ago

Would be the first time in Golden Knights history

KleverHans | Celtics

45 | an hour ago

Vegas losing the finals to Wizards before beating the Heat five years later, and then losing to the Hornets three years after that, confirmed

MyNewAccountIGuess11 | Hornets

1 | 32 minutes ago

From your lips to God’s ears, I’m still drunk off the Canes cup win

legend023 | Pelicans

21 | an hour ago

I hope he knows that team isn’t finding the success the golden knights did lmao

Ok-Soil-5133

13 | an hour ago

Well the one thing he is willing to do is spend as much money as possible so its probably not far fetched he could come up with a competitive team within a couple years

Especially since the NBA has more of a soft cap

MostlyMellow123 | Kings

2 | an hour ago

Nba cap isnt soft anymore. 2nd apron pretty much forces teams to break up quick. You cabt do trades, you lose draft picks

CloneWarsMaul | Celtics

10 | an hour ago

Pretty damn high bar tbf

SJ966

8 | an hour ago

To be fair the NHL expansion team that came after the Golden Knights preformed like most other expansion teams in sports.

nair-jordan | Raptors

5 | an hour ago

yeah because teams were ready for the new rules the second time around and had time to protect their assets

bettman deliberately caught everyone with their pants down by giving vegas way friendlier expansion rules than any other team — there’s a world of difference between building a team out of 4th liners, bottom pair defence, and 3rd string goalies, and vegas getting to pick from middle 6 forwards, second pair defence, and backup goalies

they explicitly rigged the system so vegas would be successful, and frankly made the league into an even bigger joke

aishacat | Knicks

3 | an hour ago

This is true but it doesn’t help that the NHL generally has some of pro sports’ dumbest front offices. Full NMCs go out like candy to players who suck while guys like Ehlers get undervalued despite everyone screaming at the Jets for years about how good he was.

So of course a lot of the protection decisions were stupid at the time and even dumber in hindsight. The pre-Bill Zito Panthers protected Nick Bjugstad over Marchessault.

PomfAndCircvmstance | Supersonics

0 | an hour ago

they explicitly rigged the system so vegas would be successful, and frankly made the league into an even bigger joke

Salty ass Canadian take lmao. Everyone and their mother picked the Knights to be one of the worst teams in the league. Blame your shitty front offices for being shitty and cut the revisionist history bullshit.

nair-jordan | Raptors

-1 | an hour ago

what matters more: what people thought was gonna happen, or what actually happened?

PomfAndCircvmstance | Supersonics

1 | an hour ago

What happened was they built a winner with a bunch of castoffs and guys other teams undervalued and rather than accept that the Golden Knights outsmarted a league full of dumbass front offices people like you have spent the last decade whining about how it was “rigged” and “unfair” and how Vegas was “given a contending team.” Its just bitchy ass sour grapes after the fact.

nair-jordan | Raptors

0 | 44 minutes ago

getting to pick from a vastly better field of players than all the prior expansion teams is fair how?

PomfAndCircvmstance | Supersonics

1 | 39 minutes ago

Which is why the Kraken also contended immediately right? Oh wait… Vegas had acess to the NBA equivalent of a bunch of 6th-9th men. They just managed to put together a contending team with said pieces.

The expansion rules being less shitty =/= it was unfair. Just stop dude, you just look salty that we came in with competent management and didn’t suck for years like so many NHL franchises are content to do.

nair-jordan | Raptors

1 | 27 minutes ago

did you even bother reading the very first thing I wrote?

the vegas expansion caught everyone off guard, so they compensated accordingly for seattle and utah by better protecting their assets

this not a hot take, this is what happened

keep trying to convince yourself that your gm is a genius and you didn’t just get handed a contender because bettman knew the city wouldn’t support a losing franchise

vegas silver spoons, the fake team nepo babies of the nhl

PomfAndCircvmstance | Supersonics

1 | 20 minutes ago

this not a hot take, this is what happened

Its not a hot take its a whiny little bitch take spouted by jealous fans of teams with stupid management. All you dudes do is move the goalposts and whine about how unfair it is. Its genuinely pathetic.

vegas silver spoons, the fake team nepo babies of the nhl

Keep crying about it. Its the only cope you guys have lol. Vegas Golden Knights

All of Canadian Hockey for the last 30+ years. Give it another 30 or so and maybe one of your shitty teams will finally win a Stanley Cup. Probably not though, Canada sucks at hockey now.

fisheggsoup | Jazz

1 | 28 minutes ago

What you thought would happen if you’re griping about it now.

It wasn’t rigged when The Misfits were being picked to finish at the bottom of the standings, but it became so when they wound up in the Finals instead?

PomfAndCircvmstance | Supersonics

1 | 17 minutes ago

These dudes are just sad people. All they have is cope and excuses lol.

nair-jordan | Raptors

1 | 26 minutes ago

holy shit sports media was wrong about something???

damn bro that’s a first

tomdawg0022 | Timberwolves

1 | 21 minutes ago

To be fair the NHL expansion team that came after the Golden Knights preformed like most other expansion teams in sports.

Seattle had a 100 pt season in year 2 of its existence. It’s just had bad coaching and some bad personnel decisions after that but they had the same expansion draft rules Vegas got.

SiphenPrax | Knicks

6 | an hour ago

Dude don’t tempt the basketball gods! They’re best friends with the hockey gods and then can easily pull some weird sports voodoo magic out of their asses

my_one_and_lonely | Knicks

3 | an hour ago

why should evil persist there but not here

Xsy | Jazz

19 | an hour ago

If Vegas gets competent ownership, they’re gonna be an elite small market team for the league, tbh.

The free agency pull will be crazy.

davidw223

6 | an hour ago

Will it? Vegas is sorta fun to visit but not that fun to live in for most people. By your logic, Atlanta would be a great place for free agents but it’s not.

sidewardarrow | Celtics

6 | an hour ago

Proximity to LA

Xsy | Jazz

6 | an hour ago

I’d rather live in Vegas than most small markets in the league. Plus no state income tax.

I feel like people go to Vegas, visit exclusively the Strip, and assume that’s the entire city, lol.

PomfAndCircvmstance | Supersonics

5 | an hour ago

No state income tax, easy air travel everywhere, great food, fun place to party, grear weather 9 months out of the year, etc.

Grumple | Mavericks

4 | 41 minutes ago

Coming from someone who lives here, it would definitely be an awful place to live for people who are lower income but, if you have a decent amount of disposable income, it can be an awesome place to live.

We also looked at Atlanta, DC, Dallas, and Denver but LV won out; and we’re firmly middle income - I would imagine for someone who’s a multi-millionaire it’d be even better.

buyticketsfromme | Cavaliers

3 | 43 minutes ago

Every single NBA player minus most of the euro’s, love to come to Vegas regularly and during summer league.

DoubletapKO

3 | 41 minutes ago

People rather live in Las Vegas than Atlanta if those are the only options

Puppetmaster858 | Suns

1 | an hour ago

Ya I feel Vegas is much more of a go there and party place than actually live there place

sirebell

5 | an hour ago

I was born and raised in the Vegas Valley, and I’m almost 30. I personally love it here, but there are also people who don’t like it. It’s just like any other place in the world.

Yes, tourism is a massive part of the economy, but that’s only on the strip. There’s a lot to do around and outside of the city.

KingQu-

4 | an hour ago

Nah once you leave the strip (a street) it’s like any other metro. There’s a bit of everything for everyone that’s not a tourist

marcomac29 | Mavericks

9 | an hour ago

The entire Southwest USA will run out of water in our lifetime because they refuse to accept that they live in a desert.

bigbodyboricua001 | Knicks

3 | an hour ago

Sports leagues chomping at the bit to expand to a city that will be Desert New Orleans in 10-15 years is very funny

PomfAndCircvmstance | Supersonics

5 | an hour ago

Hes been a great owner and as a Vegas local I’d be down.

TheWarelock | Heat

5 | an hour ago

For the first time in golden knights history

rodrigo_i | Knicks

4 | an hour ago

I don’t think having one 10 year old team and two recent shitty transplants makes you a “great sports city”.

PomfAndCircvmstance | Supersonics

5 | an hour ago

Vegas has always been a big sports city. LThe Knights are one of the most loved by local fans teams in the NHL, the Aces have had a super strong local fanbase for years, and when UNLV has competitive basketball (and recently football) teams fans turn out. The NBA team is going to get a lot of love for being a true local team.

RedAlkaline | Nets

3 | an hour ago

I’m sure many people would be all over an expansion team here

SquirrelWarSurvivor | Bulls

2 | an hour ago

The gambling in “Great Sports City” is silent

Xsy | Jazz

3 | an hour ago

Yeah, you can’t do sports gambling in any other city, right?

naaahhman | Trail Blazers

-1 | an hour ago

They count the Aces like Minnesota counts the Lynx, lmao.

PomfAndCircvmstance | Supersonics

8 | an hour ago

They consistently have great attendance and there’s a lot of people rocking Aces gear around town. The WNBA might not be as popular as the NBA but for what it is they get great local support.

ComradeFrunze | Pelicans

1 | 25 minutes ago

both the Aces and Lynx have a ton of support and fans

vincedarling

3 | an hour ago

I would assume if he got the team they would play in the Knights’ arena?

geofixer | Jazz

2 | an hour ago

Yes, that fact alone puts this Vegas bid well above the others.

naaahhman | Trail Blazers

1 | an hour ago

Thats the leverage he has on the deal, financially if they want $7-10B, he'll need partners. He's not $7-10B rich, he’s $2-3B rich, and part of that is the hockey team.

iSweatLikeKeith

3 | an hour ago

You know, it’s wild to me that Vegas is just getting their sports franchises. Like there should have been one there 50 years ago

Primarycolors1

2 | an hour ago

How will this affect Bournemouth’s spending this summer?

HipnotiK1 | Knicks

1 | an hour ago

Just move the nets there

Poetryisalive | NBA

1 | an hour ago

I’m surprised they wouldn’t give the opportunity to Marc Davis seeing how successful his WNBA team is

bex199 | Pelicans

1 | an hour ago

will the tourism board be paying their players too?

RoboTropics | Bulls

1 | an hour ago

I hope they call the team the Las Vegas Outlaws because that’s my custom team in NBA 2K26.

He Hate Me

KingQu-

1 | an hour ago

Just give us the Kings and call it a day

Ok_Computer11235813

1 | an hour ago

Las Vegas Warriors. Sounds about right

TiltMyChinUp

1 | an hour ago

Expansion team seems like an obvious fit for Morey

buyticketsfromme | Cavaliers

1 | 42 minutes ago

Bill will need MASSIVE financial support in order to pull this off, the all in cost of getting a team is likely 6-10 billion and Bill just isn’t that wealthy on his own.

Typical_Response6444 | Knicks

1 | 8 minutes ago

While Vegas is actively dying loll

[KTNV] Golden Knights founder Bill Foley pursuing bringing NBA expansion team to Las Vegas