NBA commissioner Adam Silver is currently in Paris for the Olympic Games. The head of the NBA revealed in an interview that the NBA will now focus more on Europe
Silver said that talks were underway with FIBA to increase the NBA’s presence in Europe. There are various possibilities for this, for example an annual tournament or even a league run by the NBA. A similar model already exists in Africa with the Basketball Africa League (BAL).
There have been discussions about this for many years, but now it could pick up speed again as the NBA has bagged its new TV deal from the 2025/26 season. “We haven’t decided anything yet,” Silver said in an interview with the Associated Press. “But I think there’s huge potential in Europe. We’re not going to change the league structure here in the short term, but I think there’s interest from team owners to invest in global basketball.”
Silver noted that the NBA has already launched major projects in China and Africa, and the North American professional league wants to try something similar in Europe. At the same time, Silver also emphasized that they do not want to damage the structure of European basketball. “We are not destroying structures that are already there, but I have the feeling that many investors are losing large sums of money here year after year.”
According to Silver, this is not a business model that can be sustained in the long term. “Whatever we do here, it has to help the structures of European basketball.” The NBA’s presence in Europe is currently limited to a few test players and occasional games in Paris. In the coming season, the Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs, led by France’s top talent Victor Wembanyama, will play in the French capital
