Many sports have been discussing international expansion lately, but the NBA has a particularly interesting plan under consideration.
Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams of Sportico reported Tuesday that the league is set for a formal review this week on a proposal to launch a new eight-to-10 team European league, which would include up to four spots per season for top EuroLeague teams:
BREAKING: @NBA owners are set to vote this week on a proposed new European league.
– 8-10 franchises, sold to outside backers
– NBA would hold 50% of equity, franchises hold the rest
– Slots for a few @EuroLeague teams.
More from me and @Soshnick 👇https://t.co/yJHlRJ8aGh
— Eben Novy-Williams (@novy_williams) March 25, 2025
Here’s more from that piece:
League owners are considering a new league with eight to 10 franchises, according to someone directly familiar with the plans. It’s a “semi-open” proposal, the person said, meaning there would be up to four spots for the best teams in the EuroLeague—the continent’s top circuit with teams like Real Madrid in Spain and Greece’s Olympiacos—to compete in the NBA’s league the following year. The franchises in places like London or Paris could sell for at least $500 million, according to the proposal.
The league would sell the permanent franchise slots to outside investors, with the NBA holding 50% of the equity and franchise owners holding the other 50%, said the person, who was granted anonymity because the details are private.
…The NBA considered deeper partnerships with the EuroLeague and/or the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), including the possibility to utilizing the NBA’s marketing and commercial operations to assist the EuroLeague in selling sponsorships, Sportico previously reported. It also considered a more international competition beyond just Europe. Discussions about a new standalone league happened simultaneously.
There’s a wide array of context to consider here. Most notably, LeBron James’ agent and business partner Maverick Carter was reported by Bloomberg to be advising an unnamed group of investors looking to raise $5 billion to start an international league with men’s and women’s competitions that would “rival” the NBA and WNBA.
There have been scant further details on that effort since, apart from ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith floating it as a way for James to get involved in ownership. (That came despite James’ previous denial of any involvement, and Carter only reportedly being involved as a consultant.) But that report is out there, with many notable figures named as backers, including Skype co-founder Geoff Prentice, former Facebook executive Grady Burnett, and SC Holdings’ Jason Stein and Daniel Haimovic.
An effort like this from the NBA could potentially pry off some of those figures or others as investors in these new franchises. This new league is not envisioned as a NBA “rival,” and it’s specifically targeted to Europe, so there are notable differences from the Carter-connected concept (which many have figured may have a notable Middle East presence and inclusion of sovereign wealth funds, and which also mentioned Signapore as a definite market where games would be played). But this would be another basketball league vying for players, media rights, and ownership dollars, so the two entities would be in competition on some level.
The more interesting “rival” discussion may be around the EuroLeague. As Novy-Williams and Soshnick write, the NBA has worked with the EuroLeague on some fronts, and they envision some spots for EuroLeague teams in this new effort. But there’s a notable question of how the EuroLeague itself, and its teams’ ownership groups, will react to this effort to preempt it in the European basketball hierarchy.
However, there is clearly a potential market here. There’s a demand for international broadcasting, games, and teams even with, say, the NFL, and that’s much more true with the NBA. That league already has massive amounts of international players: the Sportico piece notes they had 125 foreign-born players on rosters, including 62 from Europe, to start this season. Also, five of the last six MVP awards have gone to European-born players, with the only exception being Cameroon’s Joel Embiid. There’s also already an incredibly popular and prominent Olympics competition for men’s basketball.
Another element that may be in favor of this new league is what it could mean for European players looking to go to the NBA. Ahead of their draft eligibility, many of those top talents have previously headed to the U.S. for either NCAA Division I college programs or the G-League, especially through the G-League Ignite developmental franchise. But that franchise was closed at the end of the 2023-24 season, meaning European prospects like Matas Buzelis (the 11th overall pick last year) no longer have that route. There are already a lot of draft-eligible European players who stay in the EuroLeague or other associated leagues, though, and a NBA-associated league close to home might be even more of a desirable option for them.
It’s also worth mentioning that this is far from the NBA’s first international effort. They launched the Basketball Africa League in 2021, operated in partnership with FIBA and with outside strategic investors. They’ve long had a presence in China as well, which has prompted several controversies. They’ve also played international games in China, France, Mexico City, the United Kingdom, Japan, and many other countries.
Beyond that, the 50 percent NBA/50 percent outside ownership setup is identical to how the WNBA was set up. That’s how that league operated until 2022, when an outside investment consortium bought 16 percent of the league. Since then, the NBA and WNBA owners each hold 42 percent, but Novy-Williams and Kurt Badenhausen reported earlier this month that further expansion only dilutes the WNBA owners’ shares. And while the WNBA went through some intense early struggles, it’s certainly in a strong place now. Thus, it’s easy to see how this model might be appealing for NBA owners based on that past growth.
There are many key questions still to be resolved here. The first is if NBA owners will actually sign off on this. Some powerful owners, including Knicks’ owner James Dolan, have been highly critical of league efforts lately. Dolan, and perhaps others, are facing significant financial issues around their associated regional sports networks’ struggles, so this might not be the most eager-to-invest climate we’ve seen.
If this concept does get approval from a majority of NBA owners, the question then turns to if they’ll find the outside partners they’re looking for, if they’ll get the projected level of EuroLeague buy-in, and how this league will do in the competition for talent. And much of the last question there may depend on what happens elsewhere, as with this proposed league Carter is consulting on.
There is a finite pool of elite basketball talent. But, if it does come together, a NBA-linked European league certainly could be a compelling option for many players.