It's only a matter of time now until they get an NBA team.
If this is true, hopefully it's a relocation—the NBA already has a couple dozen players who don't belong in the league.
As for Vegas being home to pro sports teams, clearly the idea of making money is much more important than any concerns about illegal gambling. To me, Vegas just doesn't seem like a sports town. "Golden Knights" sounds like a low-low-minor-league team, and "Raiders" doesn't say "Vegas" to me at all.
I have a feeling Vegas and Seattle get expansion teams right around the time the next media deal is being negotiated. Vegas has a metro population of nearly 2 million, and has more than doubled in size since 1990.
And the quality of players has increased at a much faster rate than has the number of teams. The league won't be hurt for an extra 30 bodies in the league.
I think it will be hurt. In fact, I'd like to see the NBA eliminate a couple of teams.
There were 27 teams in 1990, when the US population was 250 million. Now there are 30 teams and the population is 315 million. So while the population has grown 25%, the number of NBA players has grown about 11%. Furthermore, the game has greatly expanded internationally, meaning that there is an even greater pool of talent to draw from than merely accounting for population growth alone. Basketball has also seen an uptick in popularity, meaning there are enough fans to support the extra teams.
Two more teams would be just fine. Reducing teams would be a significant loss.