The NBA and International Basketball Federation (FIBA) announced on Tuesday they would begin prospecting teams and owners as part of their project of creating a pan-European men’s basketball league — but it hasn’t been met warmly everywhere.
The two bodies said in a statement they would “in January move forward in their joint exploration” of creating a new professional league in Europe by “engaging prospective teams and ownership groups in the process to join”.
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“Our conversations with various stakeholders in Europe have reinforced our belief that an enormous opportunity exists around the creation of a new league on the continent,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said.
“Together with FIBA, we look forward to engaging prospective clubs and ownership groups that share our vision for the game’s potential in Europe.”
The statement offered further details of the format the league would take. In addition to permanent spots, the league “would offer every team in a FIBA-affiliated domestic league in Europe a merit-based pathway to qualify on an annual basis either through FIBA’s Basketball Champions League (BCL) or an end-of-season qualifying tournament”.
But the new venture hasn’t been met with warmth by all in Europe, with Sarunas Jasikevicius — coach of EuroLeague club Fenerbahce — among those to speak out about the NBA’s influence on the current European format.
“The European basketball model is the last form of pure basketball left. I hope we don’t lose it, no matter how financially strong the NBA is,” he said.
“The NBA honestly doesn’t really care about what’s going on here in Europe. It’s all about just the business model.”
Silver previously didn’t rule out the possibility of inviting existing EuroLeague teams to a new NBA Europe league.
“Everything is on the table,” Silver said. “So, (the) potential to include existing clubs? Absolutely, there should be interest.
“The opportunity to create sustainable competition? Yes. Would we want to have a broad base of countries represented? Absolutely.”
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The prospective season would also align with the current domestic league and national team schedules to allow players to represent both their clubs and national sides.
Furthermore, NBA and FIBA stated that as part of the new league they would “dedicate financial support and resources to the continued development of Europe’s basketball ecosystem”.
This funding would include domestic leagues, club team academies and programmes to develop players, coaches and referees.
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