{
  "id": 119258,
  "title": "Bill Simmons says one city should have their NBA franchise taken away because it has ‘never worked’",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/04/bill-simmons-says-one-city-should-have-their-nba-franchise-taken-away",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-04T07:08:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Yahoo Sports",
    "slug": "yahoo-sports",
    "url": "https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/bill-simmons-says-one-city-070800182.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Bill Simmons, an NBA analyst, has suggested that one city should be stripped of its NBA franchise, citing the lack of success in the city of New Orleans. In a recent podcast, Simmons argued that the city does not have a substantial basketball culture to support a successful NBA team. He pointed out that despite having three NBA franchises over its history, New Orleans has never reached the conference finals. Simmons defended his stance by contrasting it with Portland, where the Trail Blazers have been successful, even in a smaller market. He also mentioned how Memphis, another small market team, has managed to thrive. Simmons believes that the city of New Orleans should reconsider having an NBA team, unlike Portland.",
  "summary": "Bill Simmons thinks one city should no longer have an NBA team because people living there do not care about basketball. There has been a lot of talk recently about the Portland Trail Blazers possibly moving cities due to owner Tom Dundon’s complaints and the NBA expanding to add two new franchises in two different cities.",
  "key_points": [
    "Bill Simmons suggests New Orleans should lose NBA franchise.",
    "City has no basketball culture for successful team.",
    "Portland and Memphis serve as successful small market examples."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}