Tuesday morning, Pac-12 Network Baskteball Analyst Eldridge Recasner, who played guard in the NBA after the Washington Huskies, joined Chuck Powell and Jason Puckett to give his insight on NBA expansion and relocation being a member of the board of the Retired Players Association which just met with Commissioner Adam Silver during NBA All Star Weekend. Here's what Eldridge had to say.
"The question was actually asked by Nancy Lieberman regarding Seattle and expansion. What [Adam Silver] said was 'expansion doesn't necessarily relate to revenue growth' and he said owners are more concerned about revenue growth than expanding. So what that says for Seattle, you know, I don't know. But it doesn't sound like [the NBA] is going to expand because they think it's better for the league and owners to make more money. That's pretty much the point that he made. It kind of sounded to me, reading between the lines, that if Seattle can get a team from somewhere else, maybe that was struggling, that might be a better option for them. Because I sure as hell wanted to ask him 'Hey I know you heard that we've got approval for an arena, we're redoing Key Arena, and we're going to get a hockey team, so what does that mean for the NBA?' But when he said that expansion doesn't necessarily equal revenue growth, and that's the owners number one concern, I didn't even bother asking the question. But it still, to me, sounds like coming from the Commissioner that it's not like we're going to have a team in the next three to five years."
So, yea, that sucks for Seattle. Sounds like relocation is back on the menu, boys. No doubt having the NBA back in Seattle is the ultimate goal, but it may come at the cost of another city losing a team. Seattle knows that pain all too well. Listen to the full interview with Eldridge below as the guys talk about Washington Huskies basketball the current college basketball investigations too.