Silver said the Bay Area is a “fantastic basketball market” and he had high praise for the Warriors’ organization and their owner, Joe Lacob.
Lacob previously was the owner of the San Jose Lasers in the American Basketball League, the last major pro women’s basketball league before the WNBA. Lacob has previously said it would be “a dream” to bring a WNBA team to the Bay Area and has twice pursued relocating existing WNBA teams since becoming Warriors owner.
But Lacob isn’t the only interested party in the San Francisco Bay Area. African-American Sports and Entertainment Group has loudly expressed interest in bringing a team to Oakland, with a plan to play in the arena the Warriors left for Chase Center. While expansion isn’t happening just yet, it seems clear that it’s coming soon. And in the eyes of Silver at the NBA — which owns 42.1% of the WNBA as a league,