http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jan/15/nba-commissioner-adam-silver-european-franchises Surprised not to see a thread on this, but it seems it's not going away so why not. Pops up every year now. Summary is that Silver thinks the NBA has fallen behind the NFL in getting a team overseas... I'm not sure how it's ever going to work with the travel and jetlag. The NFL needs to have a team over there to have any presence, the NBA doesn't. The NBA needs to just cooperate with FIBA and try to get a UEFA type international tourney going between the top NBA teams and top international clubs. Something like the conf. finalists vs the top 4 of the Euroleague... But we know that isn't going to happen, the NBA will be greedy and in order to have any international tourney they are going to have to cut down on the 82 game season (which they should any ways) and maybe even the playoffs. I just don't see Silver's idea ever working out, there are already leagues around the world. Just cooperate with those leagues instead of trying to force them into the NBA.
This is well into the future, but think of how it would be now: LeBron, KD, AD, Harden, Curry/Thompson, WB, etc all playing multiple games each year in Europe. The marketing potential could be huge. Mind-blowingly huge. European fans could see NBA players and teams at their very best instead of just during FIBA events. It would give them a greater appreciation for the level of play. While the scheduling & logistics aspects of having teams in Europe would seem to be nightmarish, the NBA should do everything possible to be in position to pull the trigger if their number crunchers give a thumbs up.
Silver said it, one team alone doesn't make any sense logistics-wise. There'd have to be a whole division in order to make it work, travelling 10 hours to Europe/USA for one or two games is not realistic.
I don't disagree. I think Basketball as a sport is only on the up. For a sport that has barely been around for 100 years is already grown at a rapid rate. Being the 2nd most popular sport in the world should be it's goal. So showing off the skill of players like that globally is the plan and should be. I just think the travel is going to be crazy on the players now though. The schedule like MadMax mentioned is already a mess. Also that those European teams must already feel threatened by this. Teams like Barca, Real Madrid, and Olympiacos already have history and I don't know how it's going to work out...The NBA does invite them over for pre-season games every now and then. The NBA is going to want to introduce their own teams with a fresh start? Going to try to swallow those other big teams into it's umbrella? But I agree, if the travel was easier I could see it as being done. I'd still worry what would happen to basketball clubs already there though.
