NBA commissioner Adam Silver reaffirmed the league's commitment to Memphis in comments Wednesday but added he'd like to see the Grizzlies play occasional games in Nashville in an effort to widen the team's fan base.
"[Memphis] has been a great market historically for the NBA, and there is amazing history in that city and amazing culture," Silver said on the "Pardon My Take" podcast. "There's no reason why the Memphis Grizzlies can't be successful."
Silver noted that Grizzlies owner Robert Pera "has no interest in moving the team out of Memphis, he's made that clear."
The future of the Grizzlies recently came under the microscope when LeBron James made comments on a podcast about not liking to visit Memphis for games and suggested the team should move to Nashville.
"Nashville is a city on the rise; there's incredible things happening there," Silver said. "If it were up to me, I would love for them to play a few games a year in Nashville and sort of be Tennessee's team, to the extent that they can."
The Grizzlies have held training camp in Nashville the past two years but have never played regular-season games there.
Elsewhere, the San Antonio Spurs have played two "home" games a year in nearby Austin, Texas, over the past several years.
Silver said that to his knowledge, players like playing in Memphis. Over the years, visiting players have occasionally complained about the quality of the hotels in Memphis as compared with other NBA cities.
"Players I talk to all the time like playing in Memphis," Silver said. "I have never heard that issue of players not wanting to be in Memphis."
The Grizzlies' current lease at the FedExForum expires in 2029, and the team has been in talks with the city about extending the lease. A $550 million renovation of the arena is in the planning stages, with city, state and private funds involved.
The NBA is in the process of evaluating the possibility of expansion teams in Seattle and Las Vegas. Silver has said multiple times over the past year that there are no plans to relocate any teams at the current time.
