5 reasons why Montreal deserves an NBA franchise of its own
It’s no secret that the NBA is inching closer to another expansion. And as things currently stand, Montreal is in the mix.
The city recently put on a show, hosting a jam-packed preseason game at the Bell Centre featuring the Oklahoma City Thunder and Detroit Pistons.
The exhibition game, the seventh in Montreal over the past 12 years, was especially memorable since it acted as a homecoming for OKC forward Luguentz Dort, who grew up in the area.
Star player and fellow Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had the highlight of the night, though — and it happened off the court. After crashing Dort’s press conference in a Montreal Canadiens jersey, Gilgeous-Alexander gave Montreal fans plenty to smile about.
“It was almost like it was a real NBA game. Not almost. It definitely felt like it was a real NBA game,” he said before making a suggestion of his own.
“The NBA should put a team here.”
With that said, here are five reasons to back up his point.
International status
The NBA has an international agenda at the moment.
With 37 official stores set up across 12 different countries and many of the league’s top stars coming from outside the United States in recent years, it’s looking beyond the 50 states it has already conquered.
And before it tries to set up a team in Europe or Mexico, it could make sense to give its neighbouring country to the north another chance.
Plus, bilingualism gives Montreal that extra exotic factor.
Population
The current metro area population of Montreal is 4,308,000, making it the second-most populated Canadian city and 19th-most populated in all of North America.
With no MLB or NFL team to compete with, that leaves room for a lot of future basketball fans.
Sure, there’s the Canadiens, but spectators wouldn’t have to travel far to fall in love with another sport.
No past failures
Unlike Vancouver, who saw little success with the Grizzlies over six seasons in the 1990s, the NBA has not yet experimented with a team in Montreal.
With a blank slate and an excellent score on the preseason front, Montreal has done well to improve its chances, lowering the risks involved with such a major investment.
Arena
Unlike purchasing an MLB team, the City of Montreal would not need to build or even make major changes to any infrastructure if it were to get a basketball franchise.
As we just saw, the Bell Centre is perfectly capable of transforming into an NBA court, and a nice one at that. As one of the most prestigious arenas in North America, the 22,000-seat venue might even give other teams a run for their money.
Passion
According to Dort, who began playing the game here, “Basketball is big in Montreal and it’s gonna keep getting bigger.”
Meanwhile, Toronto Raptors player Chris Boucher recently equated Montreal’s passion to that of fans in Toronto.
“I think the love for the game is still the same,” Boucher told Sports Illustrated. “I think Montreal likes the game as much [as Toronto] and are big fans,”
Some might argue those claims, but the writing’s on the wall.
In the past few years alone, two professional teams have set up shop in Montreal in the Alliance (CEBL) and Tundra (TBL).
It’s also worth mentioning that the inventor of the sport, Dr. James Naismith, was a McGill graduate.
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