{"id":205204,"date":"2026-07-17T13:10:54","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T17:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=205204"},"modified":"2026-07-17T13:10:54","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T17:10:54","slug":"buss-nba-europe-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/07\/17\/buss-nba-europe-bid\/","title":{"rendered":"Buss Sports Capital Enters The NBA Europe Bidding Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is no secret that the NBA is pursuing expansion, both domestically in Las Vegas and Seattle<\/a>\u00a0and internationally through NBA Europe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And as the NBA continues its conversations with EuroLeague officials about a potential merger, it is clear that NBA Europe has attracted much attention from potential ownership groups.\u00a0With bids exceeding $1 billion in some markets, interest in owning an NBA Europe franchise has proven substantial.<\/span><\/p>\n

Buss Sports Capital Enters The NBA Europe Bidding Race<\/h2>\n

Among many interested ownership groups is Buss Sports Capital, led by minority Lakers owners Joey and Jesse Buss.<\/p>\n

However, they are far from the only notable group bidding for a spot in the league. The ownership group led by Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> superstar Luka Doncic<\/a> and former NBA executive Donnie Nelson owns the Italian basketball club Vanoli Cremona<\/a>. They plan to relocate Vanoli to Rome, with the club potentially becoming an NBA Europe franchise there.<\/span><\/p>\n

Several current EuroLeague teams, such as LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, Fenerbahce Istanbul, and Real Madrid, have also been mentioned as interested in participating in NBA Europe. According to ESPN, NBA Europe has received interest from more than 20 different groups.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Joey And Jesse Buss Join The NBA Europe Race<\/h3>\n

Following the Lakers’ sale to Mark Walter<\/a> by the Buss Family for a historic $10 billion, several changes were made to the organization. The same deal allowed Jeanie Buss to retain governorship over the Lakers for at least five years.<\/p>\n

As part of the new owners’ restructuring efforts, Joey and Jesse Buss, the youngest sons of former Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss, were fired from their front-office positions with the Lakers’ G League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers. Joey was the team’s CEO and president, and Jesse was the team’s scouting director.<\/p>\n

In a later interview, Jesse Buss didn’t express any real surprise about the decision to fire him and his brother. He cited a rift<\/a> between him and Jeanie, as well as Lakers General Manager Rob Pelinka, which had been growing for some time.<\/p>\n

“But as time went on and there was a lack of communication between not only my sister and me, but the organization as a whole while I was combating various health issues, I kind of felt like the writing was on the wall,” Buss said. “The sale of the team happening kind of more or less just solidified it in my mind. And I just more or less expected it.”<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

NBA Europe And The MLB<\/h3>\n

Buss Sports Capital was launched shortly after the Lakers’ sale, potentially as a pathway back into significant ownership in pro sports. Of the 12 permanent locations that will make up NBA Europe’s 16 teams, the group has placed bids for teams in several, including London and Manchester in England, as well as Lyon in France. In addition, sources reporting to The Athletic mentioned that the Buss brothers placed these bids while keeping the possibility of joining the Doncic-Nelson-led bid for a team in Rome open.<\/p>\n

Buss Sports Capital is also interested in owning an MLB (Major League Baseball)<\/a> team. They plan to purchase\u00a0an ownership stake in the San Diego Padres\u00a0as part of the group led by Jos\u00e9 Feliciano and Kwanza Jones. However, the MLB’s owners have yet to vote on this sale.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Fall Of 2027<\/h3>\n

NBA Europe is set to launch by the fall of 2027. According to a statement by NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum, the league is “extremely encouraged”<\/a> by the final bids it has received. The NBA’s Board of Governors will soon select the winning bids and announce them on a rolling basis. Locations that the NBA is currently exploring for franchises include L<\/span>ondon, Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Munich, Milan, Rome, Istanbul, Barcelona, Manchester, Lyon, and Athens.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo Credit: Gary A. Vasquez, Imagn Images via Reuters Connect<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is no secret that the NBA is pursuing expansion, both domestically in Las Vegas and Seattle\u00a0and internationally through NBA Europe. And as the NBA continues its conversations with EuroLeague officials about a potential merger, it is clear that NBA Europe has attracted much attention from potential ownership groups.\u00a0With bids exceeding $1 billion in some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5724,"featured_media":205353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,62],"tags":[1133,49304],"class_list":["post-205204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","tag-luka-doncic","tag-nba-expansion"],"modified_by":"Daniel Benjamin, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5724"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205204"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":205354,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205204\/revisions\/205354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}