Knicks Owner James Dolan Against NBA Expansion

Simmons doubled down on his own report in a response to Aldridge's posting, stating that Dolan has been "leading the way" in the effort to stick with 30. An anonymous "senior team official" stressed to Aldridge that "it's not just JD" when it comes to expansion denial.

The dissention could be part of Dolan's de facto cold war with the NBA, one where he hasn't been appreciative of the league's handling of the ongoing legal battle between the Knicks and Toronto Raptors, one that concerns the latter's alleged theft of proprietary information. Adrian Wojnarowski, previously of ESPN, once reported that the Knicks were the sole nay vote when it came to WNBA expansion in Toronto, whose Tempo are set to begin play next season.

Dolan previously stepped down from his posts on several Board of Governor committees to ensure fairness in the proceedings. An arbitration hearing overseen by the league is reportedly scheduled for next week.

As to why Dolan and his supporters would block expansion, Aldridge notes that one of the primary issues would be keep new shares being created from the league's new media deal: an 11-year, $76 billion contract with new television partners Amazon and NBC, as well as the retained Walt Disney Company (ABC/ESPN), tips off next season and Aldridge says that "several owners would, at present, rather begin collecting and splitting the massive new revenues among the existing teams, rather than bringing in new partners that would also receive a cut of the financial pie."

The NBA has been stationed at 30 teams since the Charlotte Bobcats began play in the 2004-05 season.

With the Bobcats since being absorbed and retconned as a continuation of the Charlotte Hornets franchise, the New Orleans Pelicans (known as the New Orleans Hornets through 2013) stand as the NBA's official youngest team. The Pelicans are said to have retroactively been established in 2002, when the original Charlotte franchise moved to the Big Easy. The last bit of expansion before that was the addition of the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver (now Memphis) Grizzlies in 1995-96.