Commentary: Fans have waited long enough, Mr. Silver. Please begin expansion talks now

There was an event at Climate Pledge Arena Friday night that was akin to the Seattle sports version of a Royal Wedding. The only problem was, the groom still hasn’t shown up. 

For the third straight year, Seattle hosted an NBA preseason game, and for the third straight year, this city showed out for a game that was essentially meaningless, other than to continue to prove what we already know: That this city is more than prepared to welcome the Sonics back to town. 

The list of attendees was impressive and extensive: Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, Lenny Wilkens, George Karl, Rashard Lewis, Detlef Schrempf, Dale Ellis, Luke Ridnour, Sam Perkins, Jamal Crawford, Isaiah Thomas, Marcus Trufant, Kam Chancellor, Pete Carroll, Mike Macdonald, John Schneider, Mercedes Russell, Jay Inslee, Maria Cantwell, Bruce Harrell, Dow Constantine, and before you tell me the last few don’t matter, it’s always nice to have lawmakers on your side. 

I’m sure I missed a bunch more. But it was the guy who hasn’t been there – the one who holds all the cards – that continues to move at an offensively slow pace. 

As we shared back in May, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said last December that, quote, "We’ll see what the timing is on those national television agreements…once (they’re done) we’ll turn back to expansion, or turn to expansion."

That TV deal – you know, the one that is worth 76 billion dollars over 11 years – was finalized in late July. At that time, Silver said the league would begin the discussion on whether to expand this Fall. But then, after the board of governors meeting last month, Silver said expansion wasn’t a major topic of discussion.

"We’re not quite ready yet," Silver said. "There’s interest in the process, and I think that we’re not there  yet with having made specific decisions about markets or even frankly, to expand."

"What we’ve told interested parties is: ‘thank you for your interest, we’ll get back to you.’ That’s certainly the case in Seattle."

 Silver cited specific complications, but to me at this point, it sounds like excuses of "yada yada" and "blah blah blah." 

Now, that’s not to say it won’t happen. Optimism here is at an all-time high, the arena situation is now tenable, the group preparing for expansion in Seattle seems to have all their ducks in a row, and Friday night’s showing by local fans sent another clear statement to the league. But the fact that Silver and company don’t seem to have any urgency to move expansion forward feels like a slap in the face.

In a similar way to fans constantly saying "Same ‘Ol Mariners," we’re constantly also saying "Same ‘Ol NBA" – the league that abandoned us 15 years ago, used this city as leverage to get deals done in other NBA towns during that time, and is now twiddling their thumbs when we’re STILL begging them to officially look our way. 

Silver says expansion will be addressed sometime this season, but on behalf of the fans here, it’s just not good enough. Friday’s attendance shouldn’t have to reinforce what Seattle has consistently shown at every rare NBA-associated opportunity it gets. Instead, it was the perfect opportunity to Silver to show up and surprise the crowd with the official start of expansion talks to reward their loyalty and patience. 

Instead, we continue to stand at the altar, hopeful the other party finally comes down the aisle. A matrimony that’s impossibly long overdue.