Adam Silver’s poker face could use a polish. The NBA keeps hedging on eventual league expansion. But make no mistake, the NBA will expand to 32 teams before the end of the decade. On Wednesday, the 30 owners that make up the NBA Board of Governors voted unanimously to explore adding two new franchises in Las Vegas and Seattle.
When this happens as early as the 2028-29 season, the NBA landscape will change forever. Not only will long-suffering Seattle basketball fans have their Sonics back, but with the addition of two Pacific Time Zone teams, a third team will likely move to the Eastern Conference to balance things out at 16 teams per conference. Three Western Conference teams have a case to move east if and when the proposed expansion happens.
The Memphis Grizzlies are further east than any other Western Conference team. The New Orleans Pelicans are a close second. And the Minnesota Timberwolves are the third team that would have any business moving east. NBA executives have said it’s between the Timberwolves and Grizzlies as the team that would move east.
The case for the Grizzlies is simple. Memphis is further east than any other team and could form some regional rivalries with the Atlanta Hawks and Charlotte Hornets. For the Wolves, Minneapolis is closer to six Eastern Conference cities (Milwaukee, Chicago, Indianapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, and Toronto) than it is to its closest rival in the West (Denver).
Minnesota could form a tidy division with the Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls, and Indiana Pacers if you want to do eight divisions with four teams in each. Or you could do Wolves, Bucks, Bulls, Pacers, Pistons, Toronto Raptors, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Washington Wizards in an eight-team division, with the Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Hornets, Hawks, Orlando Magic, and Miami Heat in the other division. Once you lay out the landscape, it makes a lot of sense to move the Timberwolves to the Eastern Conference. And Wolves fans should do everything in their power to make sure that’s what ends up happening.
The West has dominated the East since Michael Jordan left the Bulls after Chicago’s sixth championship in 1998. Since then, an Eastern Conference team has hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy nine times compared to 18 championships from Western Conference teams. The East has boasted an overall winning record over the West in just five seasons since the end of the Jordan Bulls era.
And this season, six of the top 10 teams by record come from the West with three weeks to play in the regular season. The West has been a gauntlet for a quarter-century, with no signs of letting up: the Thunder look to repeat as champions, Victor Wembanyama has the Spurs looking like contenders for the next 15 years, and Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets are always in the conversation. If the Timberwolves want the best shot at winning the first championship in franchise history, that opportunity would come in the Eastern Conference.
The Timberwolves are 27-21 against the West this season, compared to 17-7 against the East. Flip those winning percentages and games played around if the Wolves are in the East, and they are 34-14 against Eastern Conference foes and 14-10 against the West. That would improve Minnesota’s current record from 44-28 to 48-24, making them the second seed in the East rather than the fifth seed in the West.
Minnesota would be able to rack up wins in a weak division that would include a Milwaukee team facing a potential major reset if they trade Giannis Antetokounmpo this offseason. The Pacers took the year off but will likely rebound with Tyrese Haliburton, Ivica Zubac, and a possible top-four pick in the loaded 2026 NBA Draft. And the Bulls are in the liminal space between the Play-In Tournament and full-on tanking.
Anthony Edwards’ stock rises considerably if the Timberwolves are one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference for the next decade. The West is home to the top four players in the game who are vying for the 2026 NBA MVP. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is an MVP, an NBA champion, a Finals MVP, and is having one of the best guard runs in NBA history. He’s just 27, so he will be at the top of his game for 8-10 more years.
Jokic has been the best player in the NBA for the last half-decade with three MVPs and a title to his name. He just turned 31 and will be a factor in the West for another half dozen seasons. Wembanyama is making a real push for his first MVP, DPOY, and could deliver the San Antonio Spurs their first post-Tim Duncan title at just 22 years old. Wemby is on a GOAT trajectory and could be in Minnesota’s path for another generation.
And then there’s Luka Doncic, who is leading the NBA in scoring and is two years removed from willing the Dallas Mavericks to a finals appearance when he was 25. Edwards is already a top-10-ish player in the NBA and, at 24, is still raising his game in his sixth season. But that’s a murderer’s row of all-time greats to have to go through every year, just to make the NBA Finals. And that doesn’t even include LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, and Steph Curry.
The West is also littered with young talent coming into the league. Cooper Flagg is lurking on the Mavericks, provided Nico Harrison doesn’t return to Dallas and trade him at the peak of his powers. Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle flank Wembanyama. SGA has Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams by his side as he attempts to build a dynasty. Amen Thompson and Alperen Sengun are both only 23.
In the East, the competition is still fierce, but not quite as much of a minefield as it is out west.
- Giannis is still Giannis when he plays. But the Greek Freak has only played 31 games this season due to multiple injuries. He’s 31, and his team isn’t currently a playoff threat.
- The Detroit Pistons are one of the surprises of the season, and Cade Cunningham was having an All-NBA First Team season before suffering a punctured lung.
- Jaylen Brown is having a sneaky MVP season for the Celtics without Jayson Tatum for most of the season.
- Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns have steadied the Knicks franchise.
- Bam Adebayo scored 83 points.
- Tyrese Maxey and Donovan Mitchell are two of the best scoring guards in the league.
- Joel Embiid, Tatum, and Haliburton are injured superstars.
- And Kon Knueppel might break Steph Curry’s three-point record someday.
It’s still a deep, talented group, but nowhere near the crucible that is the Western Conference. Edwards would rise from somewhere between the fifth and eighth best player in the West to potentially take the reins as the best player on the best team in the East.
Minnesota will be just fine if the NBA chooses another team to join the East. Anthony Edwards gives them a playoff floor and has shown he can lead anyone on a deep playoff run. He should keep getting better, and as long as he’s healthy, the Wolves will be in the playoff mix in the West.
The second apron will come for the Thunder and Spurs, as it does for all other championship teams. Jokic will eventually get older and slow down. LeBron, Steph, and Durant will retire. And Cooper Flagg may need a few years before he has the team in place to make a run.
Staying in the West would feel like being an Eastern Conference team in the 90s, having to get through Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and the Bulls every year. The Patrick Ewing Knicks. The Reggie Miller Pacers. The Tim Hardaway, Alonzo Mourning Miami Heat. All good teams that could have etched their names in history, but ran into a buzzsaw in the East playoff bracket.
But a move to the East would vault the Timberwolves into real championship contender status. There’s no clear young dynasty forming in the East.
- Detroit will be a problem with Cunningham and Jalen Duren for years, but it isn’t an unbeatable force.
- The Knicks are scraping their ceiling as currently constructed.
- Boston is a contender with Tatum at full strength, but he and Brown are old enough to clear the way sooner than other superstars.
- Charlotte has been a juggernaut in the second half of the season. But Kon, Lamelo Ball, and Brandon Miller don’t strike fear just yet.
- Cleveland is on its last chance before a reset after trading for James Harden.
- And the Pacers could make some noise if they land AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, or Cam Boozer in the draft.
The Eastern Conference gives the Wolves a chance to reach the NBA Finals multiple times in Anthony Edwards’ prime. They may have to tweak a few things around him. But Ant is good and young enough that multiple finals trips should still be the expectation.
The NBA is still at least two years away from expansion, so the Timberwolves will have to deal with the giants in the West for now. If and when expansion happens, moving to the Eastern Conference might be the best thing that could happen to a team that’s been close but still never made the finals.
