Adam Silver confirms NBA, FIBA taking next steps toward European league

Speaking to reporters in New York on Thursday, commissioner Adam Silver confirmed that the NBA and FIBA are moving forward on their exploration of a new professional basketball league in Europe, per Joe Vardon, Adam Crafton, and Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic and Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.

“We feel now is the time to move to that next stage,” Silver said Thursday. “At our (Board of Governors) meeting today, there was enthusiastic support from our club owners about continuing to explore this opportunity.”

While Silver confirmed a few of the details about the league reported by Sportico earlier this week, some of the information he shared today was new or differed slightly from that initial report.

Here are a few of the highlights:

• Silver said the plan would be for the league to have 16 teams, with 12 permanent slots and four rotating.
• The league would be “integrated into the current European basketball landscape,” according to the NBA, meaning teams would also compete in their respective domestic leagues. Non-permanent members would be offered a “merit-based path to qualification,” per the NBA.
• Silver would want a salary cap system in place for the league.
• Current NBA owners would own equity in the league, but not in individual clubs.
• The league would likely use FIBA rules, including a 40-minute game instead of the NBA’s 48 minutes.
• As Marc J. Spears of Andscape tweets, Silver said the NBA is looking at existing facilities as well as the possibility of “new state-of-the-art arenas.”

The process remains in the early stages, with Silver referring to it as being in the “modeling phase.”

The NBA doesn’t yet have any formal agreements in place with existing clubs or investors who would establish new teams. However, it sounds like those conversations are ongoing. The NBA’s press release states that discussions have been taking place with “prospective investors, teams, arena developers, and commercial partners.”

Sources tell The Athletic that Real Madrid, Barcelona, ASVEL Basket, and Fenerbahce are among the EuroLeague teams worth watching as possible defectors to the new NBA league, though none of those teams have informed the EuroLeague of their intent to leave at this point. Former NBA star Tony Parker is the controlling owner of ASVEL and has been speaking to the NBA as a “conduit”  between the two sides, The Athletic adds.

The NBA previously attempted to partner with the EuroLeague, which is Europe’s top existing professional basketball league, but the EuroLeague rejected those advances, per The Athletic.

The NBA’s statement indicates that additional updates from the league and FIBA will be provided at a later date.