On Monday, it was reported by NBA Insider Shams Charania that the league is planning on holding its first vote for expansion.
News this big creates an endless loop of conversation. One of which centers around how the conferences will look once two new teams have been added to the fold.
The two cities that the league will be trying to add to its roster are Las Vegas and Seattle. A quick look at a map of the United States shows that both of those locations are firmly in the West Coast. But if the NBA intends on keeping the conferences numerically equal (why would they not?), that would require one Western Conference team to move to the Eastern Conference. This would give them 16 teams on both sides of the bracket.
Here is a map representing the NBA team CLOSEST to each county in America
— SleeperMagic (@SleeperOrlando) February 24, 2026
What territory are you from and who are you a fan of? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/oc7UnSQhCD
Now, the question shifts to who that lucky Western Conference team will be (you know, since the East is typically much more forgiving).
The Minnesota Timberwolves could be headed to the Eastern Conference
The most obvious answer is the Minnesota Timberwolves. Personally, it has never made sense to me that a team located in the Midwest would ever be in the Western Conference, especially considering all the other Midwest-based teams (the Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks, Indiana Pacers, and Cleveland Cavaliers) are in that conference.
This would do wonders as far as creating more of a competitive balance between the two sides. Anthony Edwards would immediately become one of the top five players out East (and probably the most lovable one among casual fans), and the Timberwolves (who have been good enough to make the West Finals each of the last two years) would be one of the favorites to represent them in the NBA Finals.
I'm sure the Timberwolves would have no qualms with this change of scenery. As it stands, Minnesota is 43-26, which is only good enough for fifth in the West, but would make them fourth in the East with a real chance of at the second seed (instead of being in danger of falling into the play-in tournament if they have an off-week).
The next best option would be the Memphis Grizzles. They are far closer to the Atlantic Ocean than they are the Pacific. A few years ago, the Grizzlies were basically the Timberwolves of the league -- a smart front office with an eye for identifying young talent, powered by a jaw-dropping star that was consistently hindered by the intense competition at the top of the West.
Nowadays, the Grizzlies, as currently constructed, would be a bottom-feeder in any conference. But given how good they are at evaluating talent and finding players who are being undervalued by the rest of the association, I'm sure that they will find their way back to prominence fairly soon (especially with all the draft picks they now possess).
The only other one that could make sense is the New Orleans Pelicans. They are longitudely stationed in a very similar spot to Memphis. Their brain trust is laughably worse than the other two teams we've mentioned, but they do have some nice young talent (Derik Queen, Jeremiah Fears, Trey Murphy III, etc.), and who knows, maybe moving to a more manageable conference will help revitalize a downtrodden organization.
Not that this matters to the league, but my personal favorite for moving out East would be the Timberwolves. In any event, I really hope the league expands because, man, is this stuff fun to think about.