The two have been in league circles long enough to be well acquainted with the inevitable believe-it-when-we-see-it skepticism back in the United States that greets talk of an actual N.B.A. franchise landing south of the border someday. But they, and others here, are convinced that the N.B.A.’s ramped-up local initiatives — in conjunction with the two regular-season games it staged last week in the Mexican capital — mean Mexico City’s time is coming.

“We’re getting closer to that,” Najera said.

The mayor of Mexico City, Miguel Ángel Mancera, was even more emphatic. In a brief interview in English after a news conference to welcome the N.B.A. on its 25th anniversary trip to town, Mancera said he thought Mexico City could immediately handle its own N.B.A. team.

“Now,” Mancera said. “We are ready now. We are waiting for that announcement.”

Things will not move as quickly as Mancera hopes. N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver is clear about that, noting repeatedly in recent months that his league is not currently considering expansion or the relocation of an existing franchise.

“We have a lot more work to do before we can put a team here,” Silver said.

Yet it is also true that Silver has called expansion inevitable, which helps explain why the N.B.A. has begun exploring the viability of a Mexican franchise as seriously as it ever has. The league recently established its first day-to-day basketball enterprise in Mexico, through a youth development academy, and is pushing to start an N.B.A. G League franchise as quickly as possible, perhaps as early as next season.

It is no mystery why league officials feel compelled to give Mexico — and Mexico City specifically — every chance to prove itself as suitable soil. The country’s proximity to the United States and its capital city’s population in excess of 20 million are impossible to ignore, given what such numbers could mean in terms of new revenue streams and expanding the game’s global fan base.