NBA, FIBA in ‘serious conversation’ about new European league, FIBA secretary general says

FIBA, the head of the international governing body for basketball, said “the next month will show where we are headed in this matter” with regards to a potential NBA-owned league in Europe.

Andreas Zagklis, the secretary general for FIBA, said he and his staff would remain in “serious conversation” with NBA commissioner Adam Silver and his office about starting a new league that could initially compete with the Euroleague and top pro leagues in individual countries.

“There is clear interest (by the NBA) and there are ongoing discussions with FIBA,” Zagklis said during his annual, year-end news conference Monday. “We’ve been having and will continue having discussions with … the company that operates the Euroleague.

“It is something that has been on our radar. We tried to bring everyone together. This was not possible. So our job is to continue having serious conversations with our partners at the NBA.”

There are about 60 European players in the NBA, or about 15 percent of the entire league.

Silver previously said the NBA was considering a European venture. On several occasions, Silver said the league was studying how the top European clubs have developed academy-style training programs for youth players that better prepare them to play professionally than the current AAU system in the U.S.

Silver is expected to be in front of European and American media next month when the NBA holds two games between the San Antonio Spurs and Indiana Pacers in Paris.

The EuroLeague is a conglomerate of 18 of the continent’s best teams comprising two tiers of franchises, including 13 permanent members and five that must qualify. The permanent members are shareholders in the EuroLeague and operate under a license, but that license expires after the 2025-26 season. In June, the shareholder teams reportedly agreed to extend their licenses, but those clubs have yet to sign the agreements.

Speculation remains in European circles that at least some of those permanent member teams, like Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, are considering allowing their licenses with the Euroleague to expire. Another top European club, ALBA Berlin, would reportedly be excluded from becoming a permanent Euroleague member if the current licensing agreements are extended. All four of those clubs have academy systems for developing players that are being studied by the NBA.

Zagklis, in addressing the possibility of the NBA launching its own European league, said “FIBA has a very consistent approach.”

“We want the growth of our sport, but at the same time we want to protect what are the fundamentals of our ecosystem, which can not only relate to the rules of course, the calendar, but it is a question of respecting the national teams, the national leagues,” Zagklis said. “We have a very well developed ecosystem of national leagues and certainly (want to) protect the work not only of a few clubs, but of almost 500 or 600 clubs that are the pyramid that produces players and that has brought the sport of basketball where it is today.”

Zagklis was referring, in part, to the European national teams that must compete in FIBA qualifying tournaments to reach the World Cup and Olympics. FIBA qualifiers are often held in November and February, and there has been disagreement between FIBA and the Euroleague recently over scheduling to avoid conflicts for players who play for their national teams.

NBA players do not compete in qualifying tournaments in either month.

Speaking of FIBA qualifiers, Zagklis said he is also in discussion with the NBA about a slight adjustment to the league’s calendar for the 2027-28 season, which precedes the summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

The 2028 Games begin July 14 of that year, which would be roughly three weeks after Game 7 of the NBA Finals in a typical season. Eight of 12 teams qualify for the Olympics out of the World Cup the previous summer, which means FIBA must host four qualifying tournaments to decide the final four bids to Los Angeles.

FIBA scheduled those qualifying tournaments from June 26 to July 2 in 2028. In those qualifiers for the Paris games held last July, there were numerous NBA stars participating, such as Luka Dončić (Slovenia) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece). The Paris Olympics began in late July, which allowed for later qualifying tournaments and, for teams like Team USA, the chance for a longer preseason to prepare for the tournament.

“We identified this issue with the NBA three years ago, and we have been raising this with both the host city and the (International Olympic Committee),” Zagklis said. “We cannot play any later because of the Olympics, and we cannot play earlier because we don’t have the availability of the players.

“The conversation with the NBA is there. I do not expect a major adjustment to their schedule. But if it is a question of one or two or three days, we’ve always been collaborating well and I think we will find a solution.”

Zagklis also raised, as a hypothetical, a potential conflict if the LA Clippers were to reach the finals in 2028. The Clippers’ new arena, Intuit Dome, is the site for the L.A. men’s and women’s Olympic tournaments. If the Clippers reached the finals that year, the series went seven games and the NBA calendar was not moved up, Olympic organizers would only have three weeks to prepare the arena to host 24 international teams and hundreds of media members.

“The venues are not the issue,” Zagklis said. “The issue is the welfare of the players and giving enough preparation for all the teams and we could not affect the starting dates of the Olympics.”

(Photo: Andrej Isakovic / AFP via Getty Images)