NBA Commissioner Adam Silver met with the media forward of the NBA Paris Video games and confirmed the league nonetheless has curiosity in growing a separate European League, that wouldn’t be as an growth of the NBA itself.
In his most detailed feedback on the matter up to now, Silver thinks there may be cash and development being left on the desk by the Euroleague and thinks the NBA can step in.
“Whereas Europe continues to develop among the perfect gamers on the earth — a lot of our most up-to-date MVPs, in fact, are European — we predict that the business alternative has not saved tempo with the expansion of the sport,” Silver mentioned.
“And what we do on the NBA is we run leagues. We, in fact, run the WNBA, we now have the [Basketball Africa League], we now have the G League, we now have a 2K video league. So we function 5 completely different leagues and we predict it’s an experience we now have. And so we’re wanting very intently to see if there’s a chance to professionalize the sport to a different degree right here to create a bigger business alternative.”
He additionally confirmed that NBA franchises will not be prime of thoughts.
“We would ultimately have NBA franchises right here, nevertheless it’s not our precedence proper now,” Silver mentioned. “That’s not one thing we’re discussing in the mean time. We’d want supersonic jets to make it work.”
Silver went on to say it’s not going to be one thing that league rushes into and desires to do the whole lot accurately and correctly.
“We’re shifting slowly to make sure that something we do is accepted by the present basketball ecosystem,” Silver mentioned. “We’ve been having direct conversations with stakeholders this week. We wish to respect the traditions of European sports activities, it doesn’t matter what course we take.
“We’re speaking a few competitors – in all probability an unbiased league separate from the NBA. It could be a European league. What kind it takes continues to be being explored. We’re talking with varied teams to know what alternatives exist.”
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