NBA Europe, the Association’s pan-European expansion league, has continued to gain traction over the past year, with the NBA planning to launch the project by October 2027.
And with bids for teams going upwards of $500 million and reaching $1 billion for many others, the NBA’s deputy commissioner, Mark Tatum, released a statement saying the league is “extremely encouraged” by the final bids it has received. The NBA’s Board of Governors plans to pick the winning bids soon, announcing them on a rolling basis.
Mike James Takes A Stance, As NBA Europe Expansion Advances
As the project advances, EuroLeague great Mike James has made his opinions on the new league clear.
The EuroLeague’s all-time leading scorer, with 5,916 points and counting, James was also the league’s 2023-2024 MVP. Playing short stints for the Brooklyn Nets, Phoenix Suns, and New Orleans Pelicans, James has some NBA experience. However, the brunt of the EuroLeague star’s experience comes in Europe, with 12 seasons in the EuroLeague, and he recently moved from AS Monaco to Anadolu Efes in Turkey.
A Partner Of The EuroLeague?
“I would love for them to not make an individual league, but to somehow partner with the league that’s already there,” James said in an interview with The Athletic. “Because I feel like they have some good things about it.”
NBA Europe is a joint venture between the NBA and FIBA, the global governing body for basketball. Though FIBA was formerly a part of the EuroLeague, the two organizations split in 2000. Now, as NBA Europe edges closer to a reality, talks with EuroLeague officials over a potential partnership continue.
“I would say marketing could be better,” according to James, when talking about how the business side of the EuroLeague could potentially improve with such a partnership. “Figure out a way to have more merchandise and maybe be sponsored by one athletic wear brand so it could be sold and we can make more money off of it. TV rights would be nice.”
“Finding a way for clubs to make more money so the league could be better in general,” James continued. “There’s a lot of things that could be better. But not to pick on it, not to be rude, because I think it’s a great product. It’s just, improvements have to be made.”
Becoming One With The Culture
Basketball and sports culture in general differ starkly in Europe from that in America. In a podcast with EuroLeague stars Shane Larkin and Elijah Bryant, when asked about what his first experiences with basketball in Europe were like, James notably brought up his difficulties communicating with his first coach, who spoke no English, as well as his surprise at there being “conditioning days” for the team in the middle of the season.
However, James also suggested that it would be difficult for the NBA’s new venture to attract new fans if there weren’t any “big teams”, particularly as European fans are more team-oriented than fans of individual players.
“Because the thing that’s different about Europe than the United States is that obviously players have fans and fans like players, but they’re really fans of the teams. They grow up with the teams their whole life, and they love them. So you can make NBA Europe and have different teams, but if the big teams aren’t over there, the fans are still going to follow the bigger teams and still follow the teams that they’ve been liking since they were 10. So the whole new league will be nice. Some people will go, but you won’t get the passionate fans that they have from the league right now. So I would like for it to combine somehow.”
James has also expressed interest in playing in NBA Europe if he can still perform at a high level when the project launches.
“I think any improvements on the league or just a better league in general, I would love to play,” James said. “I don’t know if I’ll still be around by the time [NBA Europe] launches.”
For now, the biggest hurdle for the NBA, according to James, will be assimilating into European sports culture, something that a potential joint venture between the two leagues could help bridge. Can the NBA’s better marketing prevail? Or will the EuroLeague’s experience in the market, and their knowledge of “how Europe functions,” be the deciding factor?
