NBA, FIBA say they're moving closer to new planned basketball league in Europe

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The NBA and FIBA said Monday they will start the process of engaging with teams and owners about joining their planned new league in Europe next month.

As has been expected, the league will offer both permanent spots and “a merit-based pathway” to qualifying on an annual basis through FIBA's Basketball Champions League or an end-of-season tournament, the sides said. Every team in a FIBA-affiliated European league would have the chance to qualify.

“The format of the league respects European sport model principles by offering any ambitious club in the continent a fair pathway to the top," FIBA secretary general Andreas Zagklis said.

Many details for the new league are yet to be formally finalized, including when it will start play — the working target has been October 2027 — and how many teams will take part in that inaugural season. Among the models that the NBA and FIBA have explored is a 16-team league, with 12 “permanent” spots and the other four available through qualifying.

The sides have been discussing a European league for many years, and no shortage of the NBA's biggest stars right now hail from that continent — such as Denver's Nikola Jokic, Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo, San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama, the Los Angeles Lakers' Luka Doncic and Utah's Lauri Markkanen. About 1 in 6 NBA players are from Europe.

Efforts toward starting the new league seemed to begin intensifying around the time of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Earlier this year, Zagklis and Silver sat side-by-side at a New York news conference to announce that the NBA and FIBA were moving forward with the project. Things have moved quickly since, with JPMorgan and the Raine Group being brought on board this summer to advise on certain financial components.

“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.

Current target countries for the NBA-FIBA endeavor are known to include Britain (with the potential host cities there being London and Manchester), France (Paris and Lyon), Spain (Madrid and Barcelona), Italy (Rome and Milan), Germany (Munich and Berlin), Greece (Athens) and Turkey (Istanbul).

The NBA has a pair of regular-season games in Europe in mid-January, with the Memphis Grizzlies and Orlando Magic going to Berlin and London for contests.

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