The NBA has had discussions about starting its own basketball league in Europe. Commissioner Adam Silver told the Associated Press on Friday that the NBA is considering its next move on the continent and is weighing whether to start an annual tournament or league.
It is not yet clear how far along the NBA is in its planning. Silver said that the NBA is not in a place where it will “transform a league structure in the short term.” But talks about a league have gone far enough that it has recently been a topic of discussion in European basketball circles. The league has been working with financial firm, The Raine Group, to explore its opportunities in Europe.
so not really “expansion” in the usual sense, but a separate league or isolated tournament with North American teams.
Yeah I don’t really think there’s a way to have a team for the regular league overseas given the travel that would require.
Sounds like they’d try to start their own league as a competitor to the euro league but it’s super early stages of planning.
I wonder if the first step is to have the NBA Cup final four there. Maybe after Las Vegas has a team, could do a different euro city every year.
It would be really cool if there were another 15 teams in Europe, with NBA rules.
And each team would have a rival in the Western and Eastern conference that they played home and home with.
And then the Euro champion would do a Christmas matchup with the NBA champion.
Good luck with that. Europeans usually don’t like ”plastic teams” made out of nothing. They want traditions.
Glasgow Celtics, Wolfsburg Pistons, Pamplona Bulls, Stockholm Bullets, Tampere Lakers, Montreux Jazz, Darmstadt Rockets, Seville Spurs, Mykonos Pelicans, Riga Grizzlies, London Kings, Barcelona Suns, Rome Warriors, Berlin Nuggets, Athens Heat,
