A brand-new professional basketball league in Europe could be on the way, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver believes it might start sooner than many expect.
Silver said a 2027 launch was “ambitious, no doubt about it” but did not close the door on that possibility.
“I don’t think I’d want to go much longer than ’28,” Silver said speaking at a Front Office Sports conference in New York. “The opportunity is now to do something like this.”
The NBA and FIBA announced back in March that they were partnering to bring a European league to life, ending years of speculation. Since then, the process has accelerated, with JPMorgan Chase and Raine Group recently joining to advise on finances and long-term strategy.
Early plans suggest the league could start with 16 teams, though the number is not set in stone. Iconic European clubs such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Fenerbahce Istanbul are among the candidates, along with global soccer brands like Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain.
One of the hurdles is making sure there’s a competitive balance with those teams.
“As much as I’m an admirer of European soccer, we don’t want a top-heavy league,” Silver said. “We don’t want a league where there’s only a few teams where the perception is they are in the position to truly compete like the Champions League. We want to try to model a league after a system we know where it might not be a hard cap system but where you can regulate competition. There’s a sense that if you have a team, your team has a fair chance to win a championship.”
The commissioner also pointed out the strength of European talent in today’s NBA. About one in every six current NBA players hails from Europe, including Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, and Victor Wembanyama.
“Basketball’s probably the fastest-growing sport in the world right now, and it’s a huge No. 2 sport in Europe behind soccer, so I think there’s a real opportunity,” Silver said.
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