The NBA has hired former NBAer and Bulls EVP Artūras Karnišovas as its “consultant for building NBA Europe,” according to sources cited by THE ATHLETIC. Sources noted that Karnišovas will advise NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and his deputies “on governance and game rules for NBA Europe, how to identify and recruit talent, how to create pathways for players into the new league and potentially from the new league to the NBA, and how to expand the continent’s already strong youth player development model.” He will “be a liaison between the NBA and the new European competition, NBA Europe and NBA teams, and FIBA” (THE ATHLETIC, 7/13).
EuroLeague is either posturing or about to double its footprint, just as the NBA is preparing to cross the Atlantic. EuroLeague has plans to add eight permanent teams and a combination of three qualifiers and/or wild cards to its 13 current franchises — for a total of 24 participants heading into the 2027-28 season. To hear EuroLeague describe it, 20 bids have already been received, worth a total of $1.2B. “Our strategic plan … continues to be executed successfully, and we are extremely pleased with the progress we are making,” EuroLeague CEO Chus Bueno said. That didn’t sound like a CEO about to merge with NBA Europe — and the exclamation point was EuroLeague’s announcement the next day it was launching Euroleague Basketball+, a digital platform designed to grow reach across the continent. If it all sounds like something the NBA would do, industry sources believe that’s just what it is: EuroLeagues’ mini-replication of NBA Europe and perhaps as simple as a leverage play (Tom Friend, SBJ).