Steve Kerr Reveals David Stern Was Completely Against Las Vegas Team That Adam Silver Pushed For

Adam Silver has spent years softening a stance his predecessor once treated as untouchable. In 2021, Silver publicly called Las Vegas "almost like our 31st team," given the city's growing ties to the league through All-Star Weekend festivities and the NBA Cup championship game at T-Mobile Arena, a tone shift that would have been unthinkable under David Stern.

Steve Kerr spoke as the Golden State Warriors prepare for a preseason game in Las Vegas. He revealed just how far that shift has gone by taking reporters back to the exact moment he watched Stern slam the door on the idea entirely.

"Twenty years ago, twenty-two years ago, I walked into David Stern's office in New York with Robert Sarver, and he wanted to start an expansion team in Las Vegas, and that was his plan," Kerr said. "I met Robert, and I didn't know him before that, but he asked me if I could introduce him to Stern, and we went into David Stern's office, and David Stern said, there's no way we're having a franchise in Las Vegas because of the gambling stuff."

Kerr placed the meeting around 2004, when Sarver was pursuing ownership opportunities before eventually buying the Phoenix Suns later that year.

Stern ran the league for three decades with a hardline stance against any franchise ties to legalized sports betting. This position effectively took Las Vegas off the table for any expansion or relocation conversation for most of his tenure.

Kerr's firsthand account captured just how absolute that rejection was, delivered directly and without hesitation the moment Sarver raised the idea in Stern's own office.

Why Silver’s NBA Looks Nothing Like Stern’s on This Issue

Steve Kerr didn't need to spell out the difference, because the league has done that for him. The NBA now partners directly with sportsbooks, hosts its in-season tournament championship in Las Vegas, and is actively reviewing finalist ownership bids for a Las Vegas expansion franchise that could be approved by the end of the year, with price tags north of $12 billion.

"So times changed quickly, and that was 2004," Kerr said. "So everything's changed a lot since then. The world, the NBA, style of play, societal norms, all that stuff. Now it's different, and here we are, and a lot of successful sports franchises are thriving here. So we'll see what happens."

The NHL's Golden Knights and the NFL's Raiders have both relocated to Las Vegas since Stern's exit and built sustained success there, proof that Silver's league has clearly taken note of.

Kerr's story is a reminder that the NBA's openness to Las Vegas isn't a recent realization so much as the final collapse of a resistance one commissioner enforced personally, right up until the day he left the job.