Since the Seattle Supersonics were taken to Oklahoma City in 2008, Seattle residents have been wondering if the city will ever have an NBA team again. In advance of an answer to this question, city officials are working on a plan for a new arena. If the NBA decided to expand and move a team back to Seattle, local basketball fans hope the city will be ready.

Recent comments by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver offer new hope Seattle may be getting a team sooner rather than later. In response to a question by Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum in an interview for the Players’ Tribune about the likelihood of NBA expansion into Seattle, Silver was optimistic.

“… I don’t want to put a precise timeline on it, but it’s inevitable at some point we’ll start looking at growth of franchises. That’s always been the case in this league, and Seattle will no doubt be on a short list of cities we look at,” Silver said.

The City of Seattle has yet to agree on an official arena plan. The two top contenders remain Chris Hansen’s Sodo project or the Oak View Group’s KeyArena renovation. Hansen still has a memorandum of understanding with the city, and Mayor Ed Murray plans to have one signed with the Oak View Group by the time he leaves office Dec. 31, the Seattle Times reports.