Las Vegas Infernos: The NBA Team That Every Local Is Dreaming Of

Look, we’ve all been there. Waiting for your food order. Waiting in line at the DMV. Waiting for that text back. But Las Vegas? We’ve been waiting for an NBA team, and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver just told us to keep our pants on a little bit longer. The Las Vegas Infernos are coming!

The Las Vegas Infernos: “Not Right Now, But Maybe Later”

During a news conference Thursday, Silver basically gave us the basketball equivalent of “I’ll call you back” – the league isn’t quite ready to focus on expansion just yet. Before you throw your Wayne Newton commemorative plate at the wall, there’s actually some pretty reasonable logic behind the delay.

The league is currently digesting the Boston Celtics’ absolutely bonkers $6.1 billion sale. Yeah, you read that right. That’s billion with a B. That number is going to have a major impact on what it’ll cost to bring a team to Sin City, and the NBA brass are still crunching those numbers like a Vegas buffet line at midnight.

What’s the Hold-Up?

Beyond the Celtics deal, the NBA is also waiting to see how regional sports network situations shake out. Apparently two-thirds of NBA teams are dealing with networks that have either declared bankruptcy or shut down completely. So before they expand, they want to make sure they understand the whole media landscape – which, fair enough, is kind of important when you’re running a multi-billion dollar sports league.

Silver did say that once they work through these issues, they’ll “turn to it in a more serious way.” Translation: Hold tight, Vegas. We’re coming!

Where Would the Las Vegas Infernos Actually Play?

Here’s where it gets interesting (and slightly complicated). There are a few possibilities floating around:

Option 1: Oak View Group was planning a 20,000-seat, NBA-ready arena on Las Vegas Boulevard and Blue Diamond Road, but those plans got shelved. They’re reportedly eyeing land next to the Rio now, because apparently the old location wasn’t quite Strip-adjacent enough.

Option 2: The LVXP project – a massive multibillion-dollar arena and resort combo planned for the North Strip near where Wet ‘n Wild used to be. We’re talking an 18,000-seat arena on 17 acres. Big energy.

Option 3: Golden Knights owner Bill Foley has thrown his hat in the ring too, saying he’d drop $300 million to renovate T-Mobile Arena if he gets a franchise. The man knows Vegas sports, so that’s not nothing.

The Star Power is Real

And get this – the list of people who want to own a Vegas NBA team reads like a who’s who of legends: Floyd Mayweather and LeBron James have all expressed interest. Imagine having King James as your team owner. The Las Vegas Infernos would instantly become the coolest franchise in the league.

The Bottom Line

So when are we getting the Infernos? Soon-ish. Probably. Maybe. The NBA has a lot of business housekeeping to do first, but Las Vegas is absolutely still on the shortlist for expansion. We’ve got the star power, the venue possibilities, and most importantly, we’ve proven we can support professional sports (looking at you, Golden Knights and Raiders).

Until then, Vegas fans will just have to keep doing what we do best: betting on the future and hoping the odds are in our favor.

Stay tuned, sports fans. The Las Vegas Infernos are coming – we’re just on Vegas time.