The NBA and EuroLeague are both preparing for a major shakeup in the basketball scene over the next year. The NBA is working toward a 16-team overseas competition for the 2027-28 season, while EuroLeague wants to expand to 24 teams and move further toward a permanent franchise model rather than a license-holder model. A question that has recently surfaced is whether they can collaborate to do it together instead. So… can they?
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About ten days ago, EuroLeague CEO Chus Bueno told The Athletic by email that he hadn’t yet received a proposal from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. Bueno also said he would “evaluate it carefully” and be open to partnering, putting the ball back in Silver’s court. Just days later, he now appears to have gotten a reply.
The NBA has sent a formal offer to the EuroLeague for a potential collaboration, multiple sources confirmed to Aris Barkas of Eurohoops. The exact terms remain undisclosed to the public. Silver’s proposal will likely be the biggest agenda item during the October 5 meeting at Villa d’Este in Cernobbio on Lake Como, which EuroLeague officials are scheduled to attend.
It is important to note that while Bueno is open to collaborating and doesn’t intend to deliberately fragment the European market, he has already explained what could happen if the two organizations cannot reach an agreement.
“If we don’t get a deal in Europe, we’re going to compete in Europe … that’s the discussion that we had internally, and if we have to, we’re ready,” Bueno told Reuters earlier this month. “It has to be a partnership that works for both of us, not just for one of us.”
Both Bueno and Silver have also clarified that they’re moving forward with their respective expansion plans regardless of whether an agreement is reached. Before trying to determine whether a joint plan is feasible, let’s first understand what both want to build.
The NBA’s proposed European competition is set to launch in fall 2027. The current working framework with FIBA calls for 16 teams, comprising 12 permanent franchises + four annual qualifiers. The NBA has identified major markets including London, Manchester, Paris, Lyon, Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, Munich, Milan, Rome, Athens and Istanbul. It is a mix of some already existing basketball powerhouses and a couple of European soccer legacy clubs.
Adam Silver’s office has already received substantial bids from more than 20 suitors for places in NBA Europe, with bids ranging from $500 million to $1 billion (some exceeding that amount) coming from across its 12 target markets.
Crucially, the proposed new league plans to align its calendar with other domestic leagues and international competitions so that players don’t have to compromise. Silver maintains that he is also careful and wants to respect and celebrate European basketball’s “enormous history and tradition.”
On the other hand, EuroLeague is pursuing a separate expansion plan. The competition has committed to reaching 24 teams (up from its current 20) for the 2027-28 season, with up to eight new long-term franchises. Its franchise process has generated more than 20 formal expressions of interest and proposals, and 11 candidates were then pre-accepted and moved into the binding-offer stage, with valuations nearing a billion dollars. Four additional proposals remained on hold.
Partizan and Crvena Zvezda (Red Star Belgrade) are among the clubs that have expressed interest in becoming franchises. Bueno previously confirmed that both Belgrade clubs had submitted letters of interest, while noting that they would still have to go through the league’s process.
Now, the two ideas sound increasingly different, and even The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov feels “uncertain” about whether Europe can support two competing basketball properties. Although the NBA is much older, the EuroLeague has also operated in its current format since 2000.
Silver has previously admitted that the league would be “strengthened” by joining hands with the EuroLeague, but at the same time the commissioner clarified that the NBA would ideally prefer to operate any basketball league it owns.
Historically, the EuroLeague has rebuffed NBA offers under its former CEO, Paulius Motiejunas. He even shed light on what he thought about the NBA’s potential European expansion plan, calling it mere “fireworks.”
“But having a theory is one, and making it work is two,” Motiejunas said. “We’ve been here for 26 years. We know how Europe functions.”
The NBA desperately wants a share of the European market because basketball is one of the fastest-growing sports, second only to soccer, with more than 270 million fans on the continent. The sport’s fanbase is growing beyond the U.S., primarily because of the growing diversity of rosters. A record 71 European players were on NBA opening-night rosters for the 2025-26 season.
So, the October 5 meeting gives EuroLeague’s owners an opportunity to evaluate the NBA’s proposal alongside their own expansion plans. If they agree to collaborate, it remains to be seen whether the existing 20 EuroLeague teams will then fall under the NBA’s extended umbrella or they will create a new structure.
Whatever happens next, basketball fans are bound to witness new franchises and league structures.