Hockey is undoubtedly the biggest sport in Metro Vancouver in terms of people playing the sport and watching it as well. But the argument could be made that basketball is quickly catching up to hockey. That could be for various different reasons such as the fact that basketball is a much cheaper and accessible sport to play, the Toronto Raptors winning a championship very recently whereas as Canadian team hasn’t won the Stanley Cup since 1993, and the fact that the NBA is just far better at marketing their sport than the NHL. You don’t even need to watch basketball to know who guys like LeBron James, Steph Curry or Kevin Durant are. In hockey, Connor McDavid is the best player in the sport but he’s not as well known by the general public in North America as the basketball players I just mentioned. 

I think it’s undeniable that basketball has grown quite a bit over the last decade or so and we’ve been seeing that interest increase here in metro Vancouver as well. So that leaves me with a question; is Vancouver ready for another NBA team?

If you ask me, I’d say absolutely! When I was in high school, people were way more interested in playing or watching basketball than hockey or any other sport for that matter and I think that many people in the younger generation feel the same way. Hockey will probably always be the biggest sport in metro Vancouver, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore the success and interest in basketball in this area. I think if Vancouver got an NBA team back that they would thrive, as long as they are run well because that was part of the reason why the first NBA in Vancouver didn’t succeed. Even Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner, has said they regret moving a team from Vancouver, so it seems there’s plenty of reason to bring a team back to Vancouver. 

Now, will it actually happen? If it does, it probably won’t be for a while. The NBA has mentioned that they are not looking to expand in the immediate future, but it seems inevitable they will eventually. However, it seems that when they do, they more than likely already have Seattle and Las Vegas as cities pencilled in to be the next expansion teams in the NBA. So if Vancouver was to get an expansion team, it would likely be in the second wave of expansion teams after Seattle and Las Vegas. 

So even though a basketball team may not come to Vancouver for a while, it still is something that should happen in the future. I think if you look at how intrigued people in metro Vancouver were with the Raptor’s championship run, I think that reflects very well on how well this city would support another NBA team in Vancouver. 

Would you like to see another NBA team in Vancouver? Because if so, I think it would be a lot of fun. Plus the Canucks probably aren’t winning anything anytime soon so at least give the city another pro team to cheer for.