Joining Forces With The EuroLeague May Be NBA Europe’s Best Path Forward

NBA Europe has been a long time coming, with the league first being announced in early 2025. Europe is dotted with domestic leagues, with the highest level of European competition found in the EuroLeague, largely considered the second-best basketball league in the world after the NBA. The EuroLeague has featured current and former NBA players such as Mike James , Kendrick Nunn , and Spencer Dinwiddie .

While the NBA has hosted regular-season international games in several European locations in the past, such as Germany, England, and France, a full-blown league was not remotely a consideration before NBA Europe. Should the two leagues combine?

NBA Europe is expected to be a 16-team league, with 12 permanent teams and four rotational teams that will be decided through a system of promotion and relegation. This will be similar to what is done in European football (soccer). Expected to launch in October 2027, the league will be a joint venture between the NBA and FIBA, the global governing body for basketball.

So, amid talks of the NBA allying with the EuroLeague, and with just a little more than a year remaining until the deadline for the league's inception, is the NBA going to join forces with the EuroLeague?

Making Progress in Discussions With EuroLeague

According to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, the NBA is 'making progress' in its talks with the EuroLeague on creating a joint league for the continent's premier basketball competition. Additional announcements are expected in the next several weeks.

Initially, NBA Europe was seen as a direct competitor to the EuroLeague, with FIBA partnering with the NBA to bring NBA Europe to fruition. EuroLeague has its own long history with FIBA, as the global basketball body started the league in 1958. However, the two organizations split in the early 2000s following disagreements between FIBA and the teams' owners.

Silver has also noted that there is no particular consensus on whether the two leagues will join forces, but that it is in the best interest of both parties if a 'unified front' is formed in Europe.

Silver also mentioned the timing of NBA Europe's launch. Previous announcements have seen the NBA predicting that NBA Europe will be launched by the fall of 2027 . However, the Commissioner's recent announcements potentially suggest that the NBA may, or would like to, take a little longer to sort everything out before the league finally launches.

According to ESPN , the EuroLeague's team owners are set to meet in Milan on October 5th to discuss their role in NBA Europe. The meeting is to allow EuroLeague clubs to make a decision on whether to accept the NBA's proposal or to continue as an entity separate from NBA Europe.

EuroLeague CEO Chus Bueno has noted that having two high-level basketball leagues on the same continent would fragment the value of both leagues. However, he has no qualms about continuing the EuroLeague as its own separate entity, as any agreement between the two groups would have to work for both sides .

Basketball culture is something that is completely different on the other side of the pond. James, who has played in Europe for nearly a decade and a half, suggested that the NBA would need to attract some 'big teams' in order for the league to be a success. This is because European fans are more team-oriented.

"Because the thing that's different about Europe than the United States is that obviously players have fans and fans like players, but they're really fans of the teams. They grow up with the teams their whole life, and they love them. So you can make NBA Europe and have different teams, but if the big teams aren't over there, the fans are still going to follow the bigger teams and still follow the teams that they've been liking since they were 10. So the whole new league will be nice. Some people will go, but you won't get the passionate fans that they have from the league right now. So I would like for it to combine somehow." — Mike James

NBA Europe plans to have teams in locations such as London, Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Munich, Milan, Rome, Istanbul, Barcelona, Manchester, Lyon, and Athens. The league also appears to have attracted a lot of interest from various ownership groups who have submitted finalized bids. This includes interest from EuroLeague franchises such as FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, LDLC ASVEL (owned and coached by former NBA star Tony Parker ) and Fenerbahce Istanbul.

Over 20 groups have expressed their interest, as all of the bids for franchises came in at $500 million or more, with many bids exceeding $1 billion . Italian basketball club Vanoli Cremona, of which Luka Doncic is a part owner, has notably submitted a bid to bring an NBA Europe to Rome . Former Lakers owners Joey and Jesse Buss have also submitted bids to be a part of NBA Europe through their ownership group, Buss Sports Capital .

Though both leagues play the same sport, there are obvious cultural differences between the fans of the NBA and the EuroLeague. Its former CEO, Paulius Motiejunas , appeared confident in the EuroLeague's future , even with competition from NBA Europe, as the former has been in the market much longer. This is a gap the NBA needs to bridge as it aims for success on the other side of the pond.

While not something that was previously mentioned by either side as a realistic possibility, as talks continue between the NBA and the EuroLeague, it seems more apparent that there are benefits to a partnership for both sides. For the EuroLeague, this will be an opportunity to gain access to a lot more funding and understand the marketing and business side of the sport better, something that stars like James have acknowledged the NBA is better at. For the NBA, the EuroLeague allows them to take advantage of existing teams and fan bases, as well as extensive experience in a completely foreign market. And with time ticking, an NBA partnership with the EuroLeague does not look so unlikely after all.

Featured Image: Brad Penner-Imagn Images