NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said a proposed NBA Europe league would “respect the traditions of European basketball.”
Speaking at Thursday’s regular-season game in Berlin — the first NBA regular-season game held in Germany, where the Orlando Magic beat the Memphis Grizzlies 118-111 — Silver gave an update on plans to partner with FIBA to create a 16-team European league. He said up to 12 spots would be reserved for permanent members and at least four places would be open to teams qualifying through FIBA’s existing European competitions.
“We continue to be enormously excited about it,” Silver said, adding talks with clubs, media organizations and sponsors are ongoing. He described the project as an attempt to combine “old and new, tradition and innovation,” and said he sees an opportunity to grow European basketball rather than provoke inevitable conflict with existing competitions.
But the plans are expected to face resistance from the EuroLeague, Europe’s current top-tier tournament, and from politicians worried about threats to the European sports model. Critics say an invite-only, “closed” league risks stifling national leagues and mainly benefits the commercially successful elite. When asked about possible legal challenges from the EuroLeague, Silver joked that he forwards any legal letters to his lawyers.
NBA officials pointed to Germany’s strong basketball scene during the Berlin visit. Silver praised Alba Berlin as a “model” club, noting its youth programs, fan support and role in generating enthusiasm for the sport. In addition to Germany, the NBA is reportedly eyeing clubs in England, France, Spain and Turkey, with a league composed of a mix of existing teams and potentially new franchises.
Europe has long been a rich source of NBA talent: roughly one in six current NBA players — more than 70 — are European. Notable names include Serbia’s three-time MVP Nikola Jokić and, among Orlando’s roster, Germans Franz and Moritz Wagner and Tristan da Silva. Da Silva acknowledged playing in the NBA was his childhood dream but said Europe also offers strong incentives for young players because of its high level of competition and increasing globalization of the game.
The NBA says basketball is a fast-growing sport in Europe with an “untapped” audience of some 270 million fans, ranking second only to football in popularity. NBA Europe executives have suggested basketball could even “catch up” to football. Silver tempered that ambition when asked about cutting into football’s market share, calling the NBA complementary to other sports and noting football’s much larger base while highlighting basketball’s growth potential.
Franz Wagner, who came through Alba Berlin’s youth system, welcomed basketball’s rapid growth in Germany and said comparing it to football “takes the joy out of” the sport.
Edited by: Sean Sinico