Potential teams: part 2

Before the NBA and FIBA held their Press Conference in New York last week, Serbian Media outlet Meridian Sport reported that the NBA had drawn up a target list of 11 cities for NBA Europe franchises: NBA obeležila gradove za evropsko takmičenje

It looks to be a shrewd hypothesis and in Potential Teams: Part 1 we focused on five of those cities: Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester, London & Paris (plus Lyon) – now let’s assess the other six.

Berlin

The German capital was one of the cities that NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver name checked as a potential NBA Europe destination at the NBA Global Games in Paris, and Berlin will indeed takeover as host of those games in 2026.

In 2014 the city’s team Alba Berlin caused minor shockwaves when they beat then NBA Champions, San Antonio Spurs in a pre-season game: Jamel McLean lifts Alba Berlin past Spurs, 94-93 – Sports Illustrated

Since then though Alba have been in steady decline, currently sitting last in the Euroleague standings with a 5-27 record, and it maybe that like Paris the NBA seeks alternative ownership options.

Munich

It is likely to be a different story in Munich where the Bayern name is one of the most recognised in the sports world. Bayern’s basketball team actually dates all the way back to 1946, but it is only in the last decade that the club have seriously invested in the sport.

Now a Euroleague licence holder the club moved into a new 12k seat arena last year, which they share with the Red Bull Munich ice hockey team.

Milan

Olimpia Milan’s Head Coach, Ettore Messina has described the NBA Europe project as “interesting” and Olimpia will be of interest to the NBA: Ettore Messina on NBA’s European project: “It looks interesting”

The club have been the dominant force in Italian basketball in recent times winning six championships in the last ten years and will become one of the tenants of the 16k seat arena being built for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

Rome

Rome is being touted as the other Italian city for NBA Europe but this feels like a long shot. It is over 20 years since the ageing Palazzo dello Sport arena was renovated and the city has had no major club since Virtus folded in 2020. Will Italy only have one NBA Europe team, or could basketball mad Bologna be an alternative option?

Athens & Istanbul

The two cities outside of the Big 5 European Markets (Germany, UK, France, Italy & Spain) who have been most frequently discussed as NBA Europe bases are the capitals of Greece & Turkey.

Clubs from the two (Olympiakos & Panathinaikos in Athens and Anadolu Efes & Fenerbahçe in Istanbul) have won eight Euroleague titles in the last fifteen years.

Perhaps in an ideal world the NBA would establish new franchises to overcome fierce local rivalries but it appears that Panathinaikos & Fenerbahçe are the two favoured clubs: Panathinaikos, Real Madrid and Fenerbahce reportedly courted by the NBA – Eurohoops

There will undoubtedly be a number of twists and turns in coming months as negotiations deepen with clubs and investors. The NBA Europe Blog will run a monthly NBA Europe Club Tracker predicting the clubs and cities most likely to join NBA Europe, updating as news and gossip emerges.