{"id":704045,"date":"2026-05-30T16:03:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T16:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/704045\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T16:03:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T16:03:13","slug":"luka-doncic-invests-in-rising-italian-team-eyeing-nba-europe-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/704045\/","title":{"rendered":"Luka Doncic Invests in Rising Italian Team Eyeing NBA Europe Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> star Luka Doncic<\/a> reportedly partnered with former Dallas Mavericks<\/a> executive Donnie Nelson to purchase an Italian basketball team.<\/p>\n

The team is the professional basketball club Vanoli Cremona in Italy\u2019s Lega Basket Serie A. Nelson is the lead investor and managing partner\u00a0of the group that purchased the club. In addition to Nelson and Doncic, the ownership group also includes longtime Italian coach Valerio Bianchini and former player Rimantas Kauk\u0117nas.<\/p>\n

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Vanoli Cremona will be relocating to Rome ahead of the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have dreamed about owning a team in Europe for a long time, to finally have this happen is amazing,\u201d Doncic said in a statement, per ESPN<\/a>. \u201cVanoli has a great history, and we are ready to take it to the next level in Rome. We have an amazing group of partners, and I really believe we can do something special for basketball in Italy and Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

NBA Wants to Expand to Europe<\/p>\n

Part of the reason, Doncic invested in Vanoli Cremona is because the NBA is looking to expand to Europe in the near future. Earlier this year, NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced the league is working with FIBA to develop an NBA Europe league.<\/p>\n

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NBA Europe could begin as early as fall 2027, according to ESPN.<\/p>\n

Rome is one of the target cities to host a team in the NBA Europe League. The ownership group reportedly submitted a bid for Vanoli Cremona to be the league\u2019s Rome representative.<\/p>\n

\u201cRome deserves world-class basketball, and we are excited to be bringing it back,\u201d Nelson said in a statement, per ESPN. \u201cVanoli Cremona has a proud history, and we are committed to honoring that legacy as we build toward an exciting future in Rome. This city has been without top-flight basketball for too long. That changes now. We are bringing the resources, the expertise, and the passion to make this club a source of pride for Rome and for all Italy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doncic has personal experience competing in Europe. He has represented the Slovenian national team in several international tournaments and played for Real Madrid in Spain before joining the NBA.<\/p>\n

\"LosMar 27, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) controls the ball during the second half against the Brooklyn Nets<\/a> at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: William Liang-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Photo Credit: William Liang-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The post Luka Doncic Invests in Rising Italian Team Eyeing NBA Europe Future<\/a> appeared first on LA Sports Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic reportedly partnered with former Dallas Mavericks executive Donnie Nelson to purchase an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[6996,49,48,2695,256042,1161,3456,256043,8231,12887,459,256045,47666,82,256044],"class_list":["post-704045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-brooklyn-nets","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-dallas-mavericks","tag-donnie-nelson","tag-espn","tag-europe","tag-lega-basket-serie-a-nelson","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-luka-doncic","tag-nba","tag-professional-basketball-club","tag-rome","tag-sports","tag-vanoli-cremona"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=704045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}