​While the assumption in many quarters was that the two NBA expansion franchises — one in Seattle, one in Las Vegas — would begin play for the 2028-29 season, that may not be a realistic timeline for Vegas. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver hinted at this last month.”There was not as much discussion around Seattle as there was around Las Vegas, largely because… it’s not even clear what the site will be, let alone the arena yet,” Silver said after the Board of Governors meeting. “Therefore, it’s a much longer timeline before we can throw the ball up for NBA basketball. On the other hand, in Seattle, we have had operational groups out to Climate Pledge. You clearly have a state-of-the-art arena there. It may require some modifications for NBA basketball. If we were opening in five weeks, we could be ready in Seattle.”Now Mike Vorkunov’s reporting at The Athletic says it may be 2029-30 before the NBA tips off in Las Vegas.The league had initially hoped its new expansion franchises would begin play during the 2028-29 season — if it added ones in Las Vegas and Seattle — but it has explored whether a Sin City team could debut in 2029-30 instead. However, that is just a discussion at this point.The NBA is expected to choose soon between three potential ownership groups in Las Vegas: Golden Knights owner Bill Foley and former Suns owner Jerry Colangelo; Nancy Walton Laurie and her husband, Bill Laurie, with Lauri being a Walmart heir and Bill having owned the St. Louis Blues; former Bucks owner Marc Lasry, former Turner Broadcasting president David Levy and Canadian billionaire Steve Apostolopoulos.The issue isn’t the ownership group, it’s the arena. All three groups are looking to build a new arena, likely as an anchor for a resort/casino complex and entertainment district. Exactly where this new arena and resort would go is undecided, which is part of the delay. It takes time to design, get approved and build a state-of-the-art arena.While Las Vegas has the T-Mobile Arena just off the Strip — home to the NHL’s Golden Knights, the WNBA’s Aces, and where the NBA has hosted the final rounds of the midseason NBA Cup the past two years — it would need up to $400 million in renovations to host an NBA team, according to the report.The expectation is that the new owners will pay about a $10 billion expansion fee to the league for the rights to the team, then spend at least a couple of billion more building the new arena.Silver said a formal decision on both Las Vegas and Seattle expansion and who will own those teams is expected by the end of the year.