NBA Expansion: 3 most likely candidates to move to the Eastern Conference

With the NBA likely eyeing a westward expansion that would return a franchise to Seattle and add one in Las Vegas, here are the three most likely candidates to shift to the Eastern Conference.

By Phil Watson | Oct 12, 2023

Minnesota Timberwolves v Memphis Grizzlies - Game One / Justin Ford/GettyImages

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2. New Orleans Pelicans

At a longitude of 90.715 degrees West, New Orleans is the eastern-most outpost in the Western Conference by an ever-so-slight margin.

Each of the city's two NBA franchises spent time in the Eastern Conference, with the New Orleans Jazz residing in the East for its entire existence from 1974-79 and the relocated Charlotte Hornets remaining in the East for its first two seasons in the Big Easy from 2002-04.

Geographically, the New Orleans Pelicans are closest to Houston (347 miles) and Memphis (393 miles), with Dallas (507 miles), San Antonio (537 miles) and Oklahoma City (706 miles) also relatively near.

Conversely, the closest Eastern Conference city is Atlanta (469 miles, with Orlando (639 miles), Charlotte (714 miles) and Miami (863 miles) the next-closest.

Like Memphis, if the decision is based purely by lines and dots on a map, New Orleans logically would join Memphis in a wagons-east move.

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