NBA-FIBA Europe League: New Plans Emerge

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

As expected, the league will offer both permanent spots and “a merit-based path” to qualify annually through the FIBA Basketball Champions League or an end-of-season tournament, the parties said. Each team in a FIBA-affiliated European league would have the opportunity to qualify.

“The league format respects the principles of the European sports model by offering any ambitious club on the continent a fair path to the top,” said FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis.

Many details of the new league have yet to be formally finalized, including when play will begin — the working goal has been October 2027 — and how many teams will participate 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 qualification.

The parties have been discussing a European league for many years, and there is no shortage of the NBA’s biggest stars currently hailing 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. Approximately one in six NBA players are from Europe.

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

“Our conversations with various stakeholders in Europe have reinforced our belief that there is an enormous opportunity around the creation of a new league on the continent,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.

Current target countries for the NBA-FIBA effort are known to include Great Britain (with potential host cities 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 heading to Berlin and London for games.

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