A potential European league could be a gold mine for the NBA as the top-flight North American league looks to muscle its way into a deep pool of talent across the Atlantic Ocean.
The NBA is exploring the launch of a European league with world basketball governing body FIBA as a partner, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said last week, with an eye toward a 16-team format made up of 12 permanent clubs and four qualifiers.
The continent’s longstanding Euroleague quickly signaled its readiness to enter into talks with the NBA, even as it has balked at the idea of another league in the region.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“They understood perfectly that NBA became global, the last MVPs [Most Valuable Players] are almost all international players. They see that the talents come mainly from Europe,” said Olivier Mazet, an agent to players in the NBA and Europe. “There is a will to take the field, to ensure the storytelling from the emergence of talent in Europe to their arrival in the NBA.”
A joint-record 125 international players from 43 countries were named to NBA teams at the start of the 2024-2025 season, with all 30 franchises featuring at least one player born outside the US.
With the global pool of talent growing in the sport, the NBA follows a similar playbook to the other “Big Four” men’s US sports leagues, which are looking to stamp out their territory abroad.
The NFL has rapidly expanded the number of international games, with a Christmas Day Netflix streaming slate boosting its global ambitions, while MLB launched its season this year at the Tokyo Dome.
“It’s another example of Adam Silver’s vision and leadership in conceptualizing a way to internationalize the NBA,” said Leigh Steinberg, an American sports agent best known as the inspiration for the titular character in the movie Jerry Maguire. “One of the keys is the fact that the most popular American sport which is the NFL is not played in other countries where basketball is.”
Steinberg said he believed there was a possibility for the NBA and Euroleague to coexist, pointing to the NFL and its neighbor to the north, the Canadian Football League, as proof.
However, European bosses were not inviting.
The Euroleague is celebrating its 25th season with a cult-like following and attendances have been steadily on the rise, more than 3 million spectators going to games last season and average attendances rising 18 percent.
“European basketball does not need to be saved,” Euroleague Basketball chief executive officer Paulius Motiejunas said via e-mail. “If NBA and FIBA truly care about its growth and about the fans, their focus should be on contributing to its progress, not on creating a new league that fragments, divides and confuses fans.”
“We have consistently extended an open invitation for dialogue with any organization interested in supporting the growth of European basketball. That applies to the NBA, FIBA and any other organizations, but creating a new league does not go in that direction,” Motiejunas said.
FRUSTRATION: Alcaraz made several unforced errors over four sets against Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, who had never made it past the third round in a major competition Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz reached the fourth round of the French Open after laboring past Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the Friday night session. The second-seeded Spaniard had never before played Dzumhur, a 33-year-old Bosnian who had never been past the third round at any major tournament. “I suffered quite a lot today,” Alcaraz said. “The first two sets was under control, then he started to play more deeply and more aggressively. It was really difficult for me.” Dzumhur hurt his left knee in a fall in the second round, and had treatment on Friday on his right leg during the
‘DREAM’: The 5-0 victory was PSG’s first Champions League title, and the biggest final win by any team in the 70-year history of the top-flight European competition Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League for the first time as Luis Enrique’s brilliant young side outclassed Inter on Saturday in the most one-sided final ever with teenager Desire Doue scoring twice in an astonishing 5-0 victory. Doue supplied the pass for Achraf Hakimi to give PSG an early lead and the 19-year-old went from provider to finisher as his deflected shot doubled the advantage in the 20th minute. Doue scored again just after the hour mark, ending any doubt about the outcome before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ran away to get the fourth and substitute Senny Mayulu, another teenager, made it five. Inter were
The Greek basketball league finals between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos were suspended by the government on Monday following on-court scuffles involving rival security teams. The best-of-five series is at 1-1. The third game, scheduled for today, has been postponed. The owners of both clubs were summoned to meet with the country’s sports minister. They “will be asked to provide explicit guarantees that this situation will be brought to an end. If not, this year’s championship will be definitively canceled,” government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said. “There can be no tolerance for such pathological phenomena of violence and delinquency.” In online posts, the owners of Panathinaikos and
Defender Steph Catley says her UEFA Women’s Champions League title win with Arsenal last week will act as motivation to secure continental glory with Australia when the country hosts the Women’s Asian Cup next year. Catley and compatriots Caitlin Foord and Kyra Cooney-Cross were part of the Arsenal squad that defeated Barcelona in Lisbon on Sunday last week, before flying to Melbourne to feature in the Matildas’ 2-0 win over Argentina on Friday. The game was the first in a two-match series against the South Americans as the Australians continue preparations for the continental championship in March next year, when they would