NBA's talks about new league in Europe are continuing, though the process remains in early stages

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The NBA's talks with FIBA and other entities about the process of adding a new league in Europe are continuing, Commissioner Adam Silver said, though he noted that it may take at least a couple more years to turn the ideas into reality.

Silver spoke at a league event to unveil a refurbished Boys & Girls Club in Oklahoma City on Friday — an off day for the NBA Finals — and said it's difficult to put a specific timeline on the Europe plans.

“I will say it’s measured in years, not months,” Silver said. “So, we’re at least a couple years away from launching. It would be an enormous undertaking. And while we want to move forward at a deliberate pace, we also want to make sure that we’re consulting with all the appropriate stakeholders, meaning the existing league, its teams, European players, media companies, marketing partners. There's a lot of work to be done.”

Silver and FIBA secretary general Andreas Zagklis announced in March that the league and the game's governing body are finally taking long-awaited steps to form a new league, with an initial target of 16 teams. It had been talked about for years, and decades even on some levels. And since the NBA and FIBA went public with their idea to move forward, talks have gotten more constructive, Silver said.

Silver said the NBA has been talking directly with the EuroLeague and with some member clubs about a partnership. It's his preference that the NBA work with the existing league on some level, though it's still too early to say exactly what that means.

“Either way, we continue to feel there are an enormous number of underserved basketball fans in Europe and that there’s a strong opportunity to have another league styled after the NBA,” Silver said.

About one in every six current NBA players hails from Europe, including Denver’s Nikola Jokic (Serbia) and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece) — who have combined for five of the last seven MVP awards — along with the Los Angeles Lakers’ Luka Doncic (Slovenia) and San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama (France).

The NBA's board of governors will talk more about next steps with the European plans in July at their scheduled meeting in Las Vegas, Silver said. It's possible that the European venture could be unveiled in some way — or possibly start — around the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, just given how much attention will be on international basketball at that time.

“That might be a good launching pad for an announcement around a new competition,” Silver said.

Some of the cities that are expected to have interest in being part of the new venture include London, Manchester, Rome and Munich. There will be others, of course.

“We haven’t had direct conversations yet,” Silver said. "But there have been several organizations that have come forward and said they would be interested and potential owners in operating in those major markets in Europe.”

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