In what was widely expected move, NBA commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged that the league was taking steps toward expansion with teams potentially coming to Seattle and Las Vegas. Assuming everything happens, it would create an imbalance of teams in what’s considered the Western Conference. But Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green believes he has the answer.
During a recent episode of ‘The Draymond Green Show,’ Green argued that not only should the Memphis Grizzlies be moved to the Eastern Conference, but that they should be uprooted entirely and moved to Nashville as a home city.
“Obviously the first thought is, the conferences, what happens with the conferences. You have two Western Conference teams coming, Vegas has to be in the Western Conference, Seattle has to be in the Western Conference,” Green said. “Minnesota should be an Eastern Conference team. No harm no foul. Memphis, which should probably be in Nashville, should be an Eastern Conference team.
“Adam, let them just do us all a favor, and take the team to Nashville. No harm no foul, the relocation fee, it’s a swap. Leave that arena, you ain’t got to pay the relocation fee. . .I think it’s actually very easy to re-align the conferences. But you ask yourself, or do you just get rid of the conferences.”
While a Grizzlies move to Memphis is an entirely different story, only one team needs to move to the Eastern Conference provided that both Seattle and Las Vegas would be in the West. It would then give each conference a total of 16 teams each. Memphis is slightly more east than the Minnesota Timberwolves, and a potential move to Nashville would make them even further east than a few teams already in the Eastern Conference.
The New Orleans Pelicans could also be a candidate to move to the Eastern Conference after NBA expansion.
