Could expansion be on the horizon for the NBA? The league is set to embark on the first formal step in the process, according to commissioner Adam Silver. 

At the Board of Governors meeting Tuesday in Las Vegas, Silver told reporters that league owners instructed the NBA to conduct an in-depth analysis of its options. It is a small yet important box to check on the extensive to-do list that comes with league expansion and could get the ball rolling for a 31st team to enter the picture.

Silver previously hinted towards expansion as a possibility, and just last month he said the topic could be discussed. It was not on the league's agenda in recent years but might become a higher priority now that other big-picture items like the CBA and media rights deal are finalized.

"I think there is a significant step now in that we are now engaging in this in-depth analysis, something we weren't prepared to do before," Silver said via The Associated Press. "But beyond that, it's really Day 1 of that in-depth analysis. And so, in terms of price, potential timing, it's too early to say. It is truly a complicated issue."

Will Seattle get an NBA franchise again? Adam Silver has hinted at possible expansion but no timeline in place

Jasmyn Wimbish

The NBA's advisory finance and strategy committees will handle the analysis. There is no timetable for that process to play, but it could be a topic of discussion when the board of governors meets again -- likely in September.

Seattle is the most obvious candidate to land an expansion team, but there would almost certainly be other interested cities. Las Vegas is a burgeoning sports hotbed that in recent years added NHL and NFL franchises and is on the verge of getting its first MLB team. Those two would likely be the frontrunners in the race to land a franchise, and the NBA could keep an even number of teams under its umbrella if it were to select both cities.

Bringing basketball back to Seattle and welcoming Las Vegas to the league would reduce the travel burden on the rest of the Western Conference. It would also tap into a pair of sizable markets and make amends to a Pacific Northwest city that has long felt wronged by the SuperSonics being relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008.

The NBA's last wave of expansion came more than 20 years ago when the Charlotte Bobcats entered the league for the 2004-05 season. One challenge with adding teams is that it dilutes the existing franchises' stake in the league and its economics. But with the NBA inking new media rights contracts worth $76 billion, it could be time to strike while the iron is hot.