The NBA under commissioner Adam Silver has made little secret of its interest in expanding its reach in an increasingly more global game. There's long been chatter of a potential expansion club in Mexico City, where the league has been hosting games for years. Preseason games have recently been held in Japan, and the NBA brought plenty of regular-season action to London. Paris, France has also entered the picture, with the Association hosting three games there since 2020.
The Basketball Africa League, designed to build out the game's popularity there, has been in operation since 2021. Now, the NBA is considering growing the game with another fresh league, on yet another continent, following the success of the BAL. It makes good business to expand, as we'll explain.
This time, the NBA's newest (theoretical) league could be in direct competition with perhaps the second-most competitive pro league in the world, EuroLeague. Kurt Badenhausen of Sportico reports that the NBA has had ongoing conversations with FIBA about potentially creating a new European league, separate from EuroLeague. It's an intriguing concept.
An investment bank, the Raine Group, was hired by the NBA last month as the club apparently looks to take definitive next steps, per Badenhausen. Both the Raine Group and NBA opted not to talk to Badenhausen. The league is also thinking about some kind of global competition, one that could incorporate elite clubs not just in Europe but all over the world. If the league does dip into opportunities in Europe and the Middle East, Badenhausen estimates that the NBA could make an annual $3 billion extra for its efforts.
The EuroLeague has long been an elite resource for NBA teams to add international talent. It has none of the NBA's American restrictions on player ages. The EuroLeague thus has enabled some of the best performers in today's game, including Dallas Mavericks All-NBA point guard Luka Doncic and San Antonio Spurs rookie center Victor Wembanyama (the No. 1 pick in last summer's draft), to play at a pro level from a young age.
It will be interesting to see how the NBA opts to deal with the player age issue. And it will be interesting, too, to see if or how the EuroLeague responds to the possibility of an NBA-funded league honing in on its turf. One wonders, as well, if the NBA will soon look to expand from its current 30-team slate closer to home. Beyond Mexico City, destinations have been floated for new teams in Las Vegas and Seattle. Why the Seattle Supersonics were ever even permitted to ditch the Emerald City for Oklahoma City is a mystery to me.
Correction 3/15/2024, 12:05 p.m. ET: This article was updated to reflect that the NBA has also brought recent regular-season games to Paris, France.
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