{"id":427800,"date":"2026-01-21T13:25:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T13:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/427800\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T13:25:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T13:25:12","slug":"the-nba-is-launching-a-plan-to-take-over-european-basketball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/427800\/","title":{"rendered":"The NBA is launching a plan to take over European basketball"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI can only say that I\u2019m extraordinarily excited about this opportunity,\u201d said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, following two exhibition games held last week in Berlin and London. Silver was referring to the possibility that the NBA and FIBA will team up to launch a new European basketball league, with 12 permanent teams and four additional spots open to annual qualifiers.<\/p>\n

Silver, a lawyer by profession and known for his careful choice of words and emotions, rarely speaks in such enthusiastic tones about speculative ventures. So when he does, one should take it seriously: this is happening. Talks with sponsors and broadcasters are already underway. While contractual issues still need to be finalized, the plan is progressing rapidly.<\/p>\n

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\"\u05d0\u05d3\u05dd<\/a>\"\u05d0\u05d3\u05dd<\/p>\n

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is ready to expand the NBA to Europe <\/p>\n

(Photo: Sarah Meyssonnier\/File Photo)<\/p>\n

Legal battles are likely inevitable. EuroLeague<\/a> is expected to fight to protect its existing infrastructure. Politicians and sports officials will argue that an exclusive league format would harm European basketball. In essence, this is shaping up to be another transatlantic showdown: Europe clings to a more socialist model, while the Americans see a business opportunity and want to introduce a capitalist model.<\/p>\n

The cities hosting the recent NBA games \u2014 London and Berlin \u2014 are not accidental. Silver pointed out that both represent teams he believes are suited for the new league, citing their well-run organizations and especially their youth development programs. These comments offer a glimpse into his vision. London and Berlin may be impressively organized, but they are far from the elite of European basketball. If Silver were chasing star power, he might have mentioned teams from Greece, Turkey or Spain.<\/p>\n

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\"\u05dc\u05d5\u05e7\u05d4<\/a>\"\u05dc\u05d5\u05e7\u05d4<\/p>\n

Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic <\/p>\n

(Photo: David Zalubowski\/AP)<\/p>\n

But his model is different: He intends to attach the NBA brand to the new league, launch it into a market of hundreds of millions of potential viewers, and create a pipeline league that would feed into the NBA itself. That\u2019s why whenever Silver praises European clubs, he highlights their youth systems \u2014 this isn\u2019t about promotion and relegation; this is a business venture.<\/p>\n

Silver\u2019s vision is, in fact, the realization of former commissioner David Stern\u2019s dream to make basketball a truly global product. The global shift is already underway: over 70 European players \u2014 one in six NBA athletes \u2014 currently feature on NBA rosters. Conversely, the sport has cemented its position as Europe\u2019s second-most popular sport after soccer, aided by the rise of European NBA stars.<\/p>\n

A telling example came last week in Berlin, where Franz and Moritz Wagner of the Orlando Magic faced off against the Memphis Grizzlies at the city\u2019s Uber Arena. Local kids came not just to watch top-level international basketball, but to see a story: two hometown players who came up through Alba Berlin\u2019s youth system, led Germany to European and World Championships, and now earn millions in the NBA. In sports, stories sell merchandise \u2014 and dreams.<\/p>\n

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\"\u05de\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05e5<\/a>\"\u05de\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05e5<\/p>\n

Moritz Wagner (right) and Franz Wagner of the Orlando Magic <\/p>\n

(Photo: Paul Childs\/Reuters)<\/p>\n

Silver aims to launch the new league in the 2027\/28 season. During his European tour, he also held meetings with top football club executives in Barcelona, Madrid, Paris and Manchester. \u201cI don\u2019t plan to compete with football\u2019s popularity,\u201d he said, \u201cbut to benefit from its massive appeal and near-religious following across the continent.\u201d In other words, some of the new league\u2019s teams haven\u2019t even been created yet \u2014 they will be established by major football clubs.<\/p>\n

Among the attendees at the NBA\u2019s events in London and Berlin were the usual suspects: Amazon Prime, Nike and the Saudi Public Investment Fund. But particularly noteworthy were NBA ambassadors and legends Tony Parker and Pau Gasol \u2014 both capable of rallying new teams from their respective countries. Industry chatter suggests that the starting bid for a franchise could be around $1 billion \u2014 small change for Gulf sovereign wealth funds.<\/p>\n

EuroLeague has downplayed the developments as \u201cjust business,\u201d but this represents a seismic shift. The league has been a successful model for 26 years, with a deep understanding of the European market. But the proposed NBA-FIBA model resembles EuroLeague\u2019s structure \u2014 13 of its 20 teams also hold permanent licenses \u2014 only with the NBA\u2019s branding and marketing power. Adding to the tension is the fact that Real Madrid and Fenerbah\u00e7e, two of EuroLeague\u2019s cornerstones, have not yet renewed their long-term contracts, and Parker\u2019s ASVEL Villeurbanne is rumored to be aligning with the new league.<\/p>\n

In short, EuroLeague is about to meet real competition \u2014 perhaps for the first time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI can only say that I\u2019m extraordinarily excited about this opportunity,\u201d said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, following two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-427800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}