Vancouver is a larger city than Memphis, don't make up narratives. The team left Vancouver because they were awful, with awful leadership and ownership, and were sold to an American owner as they were not profitable. Before they were even created they failed to reach the NBA's minimum ticket sales requirement for a new team, and Shoppers Drug Mart stepped in and bought 2,500 season tickets to reach that minimum threshold, there was no interest in the team. If the team had been anywhere near good in Vancouver they may have become profitable and still playing there, but expansion rules in the NBA back then were insanely awful. Their first year they weren't allowed a top 5 pick, they weren't allowed to use their full salary cap for 2 seasons, AND they couldn't have the #1 pick in the draft for 3 years, even if they won the lottery. These insane rules, and debacle with their best draft selection in Steve Francis refusing to play for the team led to the team being ASS for their entire time in Vancouver.