Merger negotiations between the NBA and EuroLeague crystallized Thursday when EuroLeague’s CEO Chus Bueno told Spanish news agency EFE that his 13 teams would want to join NBA Europe en masse rather than have multiple franchises diverted to a second-division league.

While confirming talks with the NBA are ongoing, Bueno also implied that NBA Europe’s reported entry fee of €400M (or $447M) for EuroLeague teams is too steep and that EuroLeague clubs would want input into the new league’s competitive blueprint.

“If they [the NBA] want to enter Europe and form an alliance with us, the clubs have to be part of this model, and the amounts have to be discussed,” Bueno told EFE. “The clubs are open to joining, but they want all of them to be included and to find the best ways to avoid investing so much.”

As it is currently designed, NBA Europe would not have space for the 13 EuroLeague teams. The NBA’s template has been to begin with 12 permanent franchises: ranging from soccer clubs launching first-time basketball teams (such as Paris Saint-Germain), complete startups (such as a franchise in London perhaps owned by former Raptors minority owner Larry Tanenbaum) and existing teams (such as from EuroLeague). Although four more clubs will be able to qualify on a yearly basis — for a total of 16 — it is an overall model that would likely snub a number of EuroLeague teams.

In fact, another report Thursday from Belgrade-based Meridian Sport said the NBA’s plans are to add just six EuroLeague clubs: Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Fenerbahçe, Bayern Munich, ASVEL and Panathinaikos. That would leave out Anadolu Efes, Baskonia, CSKA Moscow, Olimpia Milano, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Olympiacos and Žalgiris Kaunas.

Sources have said the NBA’s solution is to syphon those seven less lucrative EuroLeague franchises into a second division, something Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum alluded to in a season-opening Zoom call this month.

“There will be an established top-tier league, which is the NBA Europe League,” Tatum said. “There will be a second division. The winners of that second division will play into the top-tier league, and then there will be slots for every other club from every other domestic league to be able to play into a merit-based pathway.”

It is unclear whether the NBA — which is still planning to launch in October of 2027 with or without the merger — will adjust its model to incorporate an entire EuroLeague. But, at its core, the difference between the two leagues is economics: perceived and reality. Tatum referenced reports during his call that not all EuroLeague teams are “financially stable,” and Bueno confirmed Thursday to EFE that that only 40% of his clubs are in a solid place. Industry sources believe it’s even less than 40%, but, either way, Bueno said the goal remains to make them profitable within a 10-year period.

“We have a meeting to discuss this: allowing those who have money to keep spending but also balancing the system so it doesn’t have an inflationary effect or jeopardize the goal of sustainability,” he said.

Insiders say that’s the crux of why the NBA wouldn’t inherit the entire EuroLeague immediately — the sense being that NBA Europe can reinvigorate brands such as Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Fenerbahçe, Bayern Munich, ASVEL and Panathinaikos and perhaps add the other seven teams over time.

The NBA’s plan, for instance, is to invest $3B in NBA Europe at launch and cover early financial deficits to prevent teams from having to pour in extra capital during the infancy stages of the launch. Which is why Tatum said this month that NBA Europe can triple EuroLeague’s projection of dispursing $3.8B to its participating clubs over a 10-year window.

Asked about Tatum’s tripling comment, Bueno said Tatum failed to account for the entry fee EuroLeague teams will have to pay to NBA Europe.

“If [EuroLeague] franchises put in €500 million and earn €240 million over 10 years, they are still losing €260 million,” Bueno said. “In our case, they don’t lose money because they don’t put anything in. If they generate €100 million or €200 million, that is what they generate.”

That’s partly why, earlier this month in Como, EuroLeague’s board rejected the NBA’s offer to purchase the league and merge for a reported $581M.

“If there are other proposals from the NBA, our lines are open, but we will keep working on the EuroLeague model,” Bueno said, referencing a EuroLeague plan to expand to 24 teams. “… The clubs have a very clear position: They will want to be part of the decision-making. They have created a league that they own, and they want to continue deciding their future.”

But there’s also no denying the burgeoning interest in NBA Europe from several EuroLeague teams –particularly Real Madrid whose basketball director Juan Carlos Sanches has said: “We are eager for the NBA to come to Europe. The NBA is the premier league in the world and would give basketball on the continent a massive leap, economically, in media exposure, and in overall presence…It is like being offered a Ferrari for the weekend. The NBA in Europe would be incredibly important for every club. Hopefully, the sooner, the better.”