NBA European League in the offing

Article posted by Coliseum, December 8^th, 2025

Image: NBA

The National Basketball Association’s (NBA’s) interest in expanding its global reach has been well documented and it goes beyond just playing preseason and regular season games in various countries.

‘CBS SPORTS’ stated that the NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has talked about the possibility of starting an NBA Europe league on numerous occasions and more information about the league’s plans have been trickling out in recent weeks.

New York (US)-based the National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and one (1) in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and is considered the premier professional basketball league in the world.

‘CBS SPORTS’ further stated that Silver has mentioned that there’s been significant ownership interest from “a lot of well-known wealthy European families, American families and institutions” and with the backing of the NBA it’s certainly something that could happen in the near future. Silver previously pointed to 2027 or 2028 as a potential start date and NBA Europe Managing Director George Aivazoglou said at a conference in Italy earlier in November that October 2027 is being targeted as the potential launch date for the league.

The current plan for the league consists of 16 teams, 12 of which would be permanent members, Aivazoglou said.

The remaining four teams would qualify to join the league by winning either the International Basketball Federation (FIBA’s) Champions League, or based on their performance in their domestic leagues, Aivazoglou said. There have been no deals made with any Cities or the existing clubs.

However, the NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum did mention specific clubs that could be considered.

The LaLiga teams Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona (Spain) and the Bundesliga team FC Bayern Munich (Germany) are three teams Tatum mentioned by name as clubs that could be permanent members of the NBA Europe league.

Added Tatum, “There’s nothing definitive yet. We’re having conversations with lots of potential investors in the ecosystem. Those were examples of potential teams. As I said, I think the mix will be an example of the existing teams in the current top-tier league, some soccer teams that don’t have a basketball club and some teams from whole cloth.”

Aivazoglou said that the first season may not feature all 16 teams as the league gets off the ground but that is the long-term hope. Another feature under consideration with the creation of this league is having NBA teams face some of the European squads.

“One of the things that we’ll do very soon after we launch this league is probably create a new tournament,” Aivazoglou said.

That tournament could be similar to the FIFA World Cup™ but it would differ because the players wouldn’t necessarily be playing for their home countries. Tatum also alluded to the two leagues playing games against each other with the NBA Cup used as the trophy they’d be fighting for.

If this league were to get off the ground it would certainly create some competition for the NBA. Silver has said in the past that he isn’t concerned about losing talent to this league but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. It won’t be an immediate concern but perhaps down the line some top international players may consider staying in Europe instead of playing in the NBA in the United States.

On paper, this sound like an exciting new venture for the league and would be a great representation of how global the sport of basketball really is. There’s a record 135 international players on NBA rosters this season which represents roughly 30 percent of the total players in the league. This new league would show just how much global interest there is in basketball and allows the NBA to expand on a level that can only be compared to soccer.

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