Adam Silver reveals than the NBA’s plan to expand to Europe continues to grow

As Team USA and many international players from the NBA are currently competing in the Olympic Games, Adam Silver has been present in Paris and addressed the ambitious expansion which lies ahead in the league’s future. In a recent interview with the executive, he explained that the NBA hopes to expand its presence in Europe. 

The league commissioner revealed that they are intensifying negotiations with FIBA to stretch all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, possibly with some sort of annual competition or even an NBA-operated league.

Even though this initiative has been under consideration for many years now, it seems to be gaining more momentum lately, especially as the latest media rights deals starting next year have finally concluded. “We certainly haven’t made any definitive decisions,” Silver started out.

Adam Silver has discussed a potential annual tournament or an NBA operated league with FIBA in order to increase their ‘competitive footprint in Europe’, per @ByTimReynolds. pic.twitter.com/oww2CSUpoX

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) August 2, 2024

“I continue to believe there’s an enormous opportunity here. It’s not something where we’ll transform a league structure in the short term. But I think that there’s an appetite among our team owners for additional investment in global basketball,” he assured.

However, the league’s ambitious expand even farther than Europe. “We have a huge initiative in China. We have a huge initiative in Africa. Given the quality of the basketball here in Europe, it would seem to make sense that we should be doing something here as well,” Adam shared.

Silver has described their latest trip to the Paris Olympics as a “listening tour,” from which they hope to build real opportunities upon. “We want to make sure we have a true grasp of the opportunity,” the commissioner said. “We’ll take the time we need to before we decide to move forward on any initiative.

“We certainly don’t want to do damage to the strong bones of the basketball infrastructure that are in place,” Silver explained. “On the other hand, in terms of regional and pan-regional competition here in Europe, it would be my sense — and again, I’m still studying — that lots of investors are losing significant amounts of money every year.”

The expansion will certainly begin in the United States, as the league is considering to add new teams to the NBA and has many potential destinations

For the past years, the NBA has held many important events in Las Vegas, and Adam Silver expressed his excitement to keep building a relationship with the city. As the 20th Summer League took place in July and the NBA Cup set to return to the T-Mobile Arena, the future looks promising for an expansion.

“Now in the 20th year of the Summer League, we’ve estimated and been told that the economic impact is close to a quarter of a billion dollars,” Silver said last month. “We really appreciate how Las Vegas has developed in the 20 years we’ve been here, to the point where we can say it is the undisputed entertainment capital of the world. We look forward to doing even more here.”

With new and innovative venues such as Sphere hosting last month’s NHL draft, many entrepreneurs around the sport world are wondering if Las Vegas will attract other leagues to the city.

“We’re not looking to travel the draft at the moment, but I did watch the NHL draft on television, and I said it was a truly spectacular experience coming out of the Sphere,” the commissioner concluded.