The NBA IS Coming

So we didn’t get to find out exactly when the league will launch or who the teams will be – but Adam Silver and Andreas Zagklis’ press conference in New York on Friday confirmed that the next hurdle had been passed – the NBA owners are in – the NBA’s European League is on: NBA, FIBA move forward on exploration of new professional men’s basketball league in Europe | NBA.com

Although the NBA Commissioner and the FIBA Secretary General have been talking about the possibility of a league for well over a year now: NBA Explores Europe Options, Including Launching a Possible New League – it was thought that the NBA owners may take some convincing, given that the NBA’s other leagues: WNBA, G-League and Basketball Africa League are all loss makers.

But the owners were clearly convinced by the view that the European basketball market is commercially under-exploited and therefore bought into Zaglkis’ belief that “A new league in Europe would combine the NBA’s business acumen with the international expertise of FIBA to attract new basketball fans and investors alike”.

We’ll explore that “untapped potential” in future blogs but what we did learn from the press conference was that the likely make-up of the league will be 16 clubs: 12 permanent members and 4 teams who will qualify each season: NBA looks into starting European basketball league – BBC Sport

So fairly similar to Euroleague then who currently have 12 clubs with long term licences and 6 teams on shorter term contracts.

And like Euroleague the new NBA league intends to follow FIBA rules, such as 40 minute rather that 48 minute games.

The NBA league is also open to current Euroleague clubs joining with Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, ASVEL Lyon and Fenerbahçe Istanbul all rumoured to already be in talks: Four EuroLeague teams that could join NBA Europe revealed, PSG confirms interest – Basketnews.com

But the new league is also exploring new franchises, potentially backed by other major European soccer clubs, and so many current Euroleague teams will not get an invite.

In an interview with L’Equipe the Euroleague CEO Paulius Motiejunas said the that he did not see the announcement as a “declaration of war”: Paulius Motiejunas, patron de l’Euroligue, sur le projet de ligue NBA en Europe : « Pas une déclaration de guerre » but it was a strong call to action for Euroleague to come to the table quickly or see their league potentially decimated.

As ASVEL Lyon CEO and former NBA Champion Tony Parker noted last week: “We either reach an agreement or the NBA comes alone”: Tony Parker: “We either reach an agreement or the NBA comes alone” – Eurohoops

The games have begun.