Chus Bueno said he's optimistic about a future partnership with NBA Europe and confirmed that any talk of EuroLeague legal action against the NBA is "totally off the table."
Adam Silver and FIBA leaders are working on a new NBA-backed competition called NBA Europe. So far, the EuroLeague hasn't been formally involved, though that could change in the future.
Recently, the EuroLeague appointed a new CEO, Chus Bueno, a former NBA executive. The idea is that the best European league and NBA Europe could eventually become partners.
NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum said during the 2026 All-Star Weekend that he hopes Bueno can act as a "bridge between us, FIBA, and the EuroLeague clubs" as the NBA expands in Europe.
"I have good relationships with the NBA. I have good relationships with FIBA. ... But it has to be all together, sit down, and everyone has to make an effort to figure it out," Bueno told Sport24. "And it's going to be crucial conversations, and sometimes we are not going to be happy with those conversations.
"But when we have trust, and we have relationships, we can always say, 'Okay, we stop here today, we'll figure it out. Let's come back tomorrow and keep going until we find a solution that can maximize the basketball product in Europe.'"
Credit AP - Scanpix
When asked if he sees a partnership happening eventually, Bueno said:
"Well, the NBA opened that room. They are trying to go with their hypothesis to the market, and now investors, teams, and people have to respond to that. And I want to be respectful with that. I want to wait until the end of the month and then sit down with the results of that.
"I'm an optimistic guy by nature. Being optimistic, I've ended up in good places many, many times, so it's reinforcing that being optimistic is a good thing. So yes, I'm optimistic."
There had been rumors that EuroLeague Basketball might take legal action against the NBA for talking to its teams and trying to persuade them to join the new project.
"For me, this is off the table right now. I don't want to think about it," Bueno stated.
Totally off the table?
"Totally," Bueno assured. "I want to think about if, for whatever reason, the NBA brings 2-5 billion into basketball, how on earth are we not going to try to maximize the opportunity? Putting all these billions into basketball to grow basketball. So that's common sense. We need to figure it out.
Credit AP - Scanpix
"The other thing is how we all feel comfortable and what it means to 'maximize the opportunity for everyone.' But we need to be open to that. Basketball in Europe never had five billion, so if it happens, we need to think about it.
"We need to think about how we can be in the best position to have a good conversation, and not destroy value: having three teams here, five teams there, and not having a good product.
"People could be confused [with new leagues], people are getting mad and walking away from basketball because 'I don't have this team anymore' and 'I don't have that team anymore." How can we build something that is good for the fans, put the fans at the center of everything, and make it work for everyone's business? We have to figure it out."
The three potential scenarios are a partnership in which the EuroLeague takes a stake in NBA Europe, an equity exchange between the two leagues, or a full merger between the competitions.
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