In July, for the first time in the league’s history, all 30 NBA teams participated in the 2018 Summer League in Las Vegas – a city with no NBA team of its own. 

Considering that in Vegas hosted the NBA All-Star Weekend in 2007, it begs the question: Why isn't there an NBA team in Las Vegas?

Las Vegas, a city of casinos, is growing its sports teams. "They’ve got hockey here, and they’ve got WNBA here, the NFL will be here in a couple of years. I think Vegas is built for an NBA team. I think they should be here. It has everything. It’s easy access from the airport down to the Strip. I don’t see why not,” said Paul George from the Oklahoma City Thunders.

“Even just from adding an NHL team, they’re doing great things. It’s built for it. Obviously, the money is there, but I think the fan support is there as well. We saw that in hockey,” said James Harden from the Houston Rockets.

“I think players like coming here. I’m sure whatever team they put together would be successful here because of so much support and so many great resources, and it would add on another level of excitement for the NBA, for the game of basketball, so I’m all for it,” said Kevin Durant from the Golden State Warriors.

So what are the requirements for a city to have an NBA team, and is Vegas qualified?

First, the city must have a strong economy and be influential enough. The NBA is still a business and still needs to be profitable. A part of the total revenue is divided to all 30 teams. If the new team cannot contribute, the rest will have to see their pieces of the cake shrink.

Las Vegas does not need worry about money or influence as it's well-known for its party and gambling scene. Jim Murren, chairman and CEO of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in May told the Las Vegas Sun that he would expect that “Las Vegas will have an NBA team within the next five years, if not sooner. That team would likely play at T-Mobile (Arena).”

However, Vegas does not look so good in other areas. From 2003-2007, an AFL (Arena Football League) team, Las Vegas Gladiators played there. During the period, the average attendance for AFL was 12,515 while the number for Gladiators was 8,979, according to Tencent Sports. From 2009-16, the Las Vegas 51s of PCL (Pacific Coast League) never saw an average attendance of more than 5,000, according to the official site of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League.

Such numbers may indicate that the sports market in Las Vegas is not strong enough. One of the reasons for this was the local population. Though tens of thousands of tourists come to Vegas every year, they preferred to spend their nights watching shows or playing at the casinos instead of watching an hours-long game. Besides, the population of Vegas in 2017 was 641,676, a puny amount. The NBA’s smallest market is San Antonio, which has a population of over 1.5 million, according to World Population Review.

It’s true that the average attendance for the 2018 NBA Summer League was more than 12,000 but the Summer League was over in less than one month. By contrast, regular season, plus the playoffs can be as long as eight months, which is too long for non-basketball fans to sustain their passion. 

Furthermore, most NBA games happen at night which is also the best business time for casinos, which could have a negative impact on ticket sales.