International expansion has been a dream for the NBA for years, but things may be finally inching closer to reality. At a conference earlier this month, Adam Silver said plans are advancing for a collaborative league launched with FIBA, starting play in either 2027 or 2028: "I don't think I'd want to go much longer than '28. The opportunity is now to do something like this."
The league and FIBA have already brought on partners to work on strategy and finance and have been meeting with potential stakeholders all over the continent. Reporting from ESPN said that the league is likely to have 16 teams, including "Existing European clubs like Real Madrid, Fenerbahçe Istanbul and Barcelona..."
Presumably, this initiative is something more than just a redo of the existing EuroLeague — the basketball equivalent of soccer's Champions League, which brings together the best teams from different domestic leagues to compete in one tournament. If the NBA and FIBA are really planning something new, it would mean creating some new clubs from scratch, and that may be the biggest challenge of all.
Basketball is already immensely popular in Europe, but the powerhouse clubs there are not new. Real Madrid has been around since 1931, and they have 5.1 million followers on Instagram — more than 18 NBA clubs. We're talking about enormous fanbases and deeply entrenched hoops cultures. If the NBA is going to include brand-new expansion teams in this initiative, they're going to need a hook.
That's why the NBA had to be thrilled to read what Giannis said this week about a return to Europe.
Giannis admitted dreaming about playing basketball back in Greece
In an interview with a Greek outlet, earlier this week, Giannis admitted he still thinks about playing back home.
“Yes. Last year, after the pre-Olympic, I was sitting with Thanasis, I told you, we were watching some highlights and I said to him, ‘hey Thanasis…’ Look now, he was looking at me like I was crazy. The best player in the world, one of the best players in the world, to come and play in Europe? Is this happening? Of course it can."
Giannis is certainly not the only NBA star to consider something like this. Luka Dončić has said he'd be open to finishing his professional career where it started — with Real Madrid. Ricky Rubio was never quite a star, but still played out an incredibly productive 12 seasons in the NBA before returning to Europe to play for Barcelona. Ditto for Nikola Mirotić and Marc Gasol.
The MLS has used this exact model (but in reverse) to help grow the game here in the United States — stars who have aged out of their primes crossing the Atlantic to play in front of adoring fans for enormous paydays. There's no reason to think it couldn't work in reverse.
The best young players in Europe often come to the NBA to make their names and fortunes. Spending a few years at the end of their career padding their bank accounts back home and helping launch new expansion teams could be the perfect way to quickly build enthusiastic fanbases around new teams, trying to compete with the legacy European clubs.