Commissioner Adam Silver declared during his annual press conference prior to the Finals opener that the league’s plans for a European league are on schedule, Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press reports.
The overseas league is part of a joint effort involving the NBA and FIBA, the sport’s global governing body.
“We are very much on schedule,” Silver said. “It is our hope and anticipation that that league will launch in the ’27-28 season in Europe. We are on track. Final bids from franchises are due at the end of this month, at the end of the month in June. We’ve seen record interest and we’re very excited about the ongoing opportunity and working closely with FIBA, our federation.”
Silver said the NBA and its players’ union still need to decide whether current players can be investors in NBA Europe franchises, according to The Athletic’s Joe Vardon. Lakers star Luka Dončić is part of an investor group headed by former Mavericks general manager Donnie Nelson that is seeking to bring a team to Rome as part of NBA Europe. Current NBA players are banned from being part of ownership groups for domestic franchises.
Silver’s office confirmed that it has had discussions with Dončić about his interest in NBA Europe, but insisted there has been no determination yet whether players can invest in NBA Europe teams, Vardon adds.
Here’s more from Silver’s press conference:
- The lengthy investigation to determine whether the Clippers attempted to circumvent the salary by arranging an alleged no-show job for Kawhi Leonard with a now-defunct environmental company is “close to the point now where I think we need to wrap this up.” Law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, has been investigating since September. The Clippers, owner Steve Ballmer, and Leonard have repeatedly said they did nothing wrong. “The most important thing is that we get it right,” Silver said. “I certainly hear many things all the time about the perception of what really happened or didn’t happen here. I wouldn’t be doing my job if, ultimately, I issue (his) determination based on perception. My job is to follow the facts.” Silver could punish the Clippers by fining them, stripping away future draft picks or even voiding Leonard’s contract.
- There’s no major update on the NBA’s formal plans to explore expansion in Seattle and Las Vegas. Silver said that “discussions are ongoing.” Multiple groups, Silver said, are interested in having teams in those cities. Silver wants a final decision on expansion by the end of the year. “It’s not a foregone conclusion that we will expand … but what we’ve told all interested parties is our Board will make a decision by the end of this calendar year,” Silver said.
- Silver said the league needed to pass lottery reform because tanking had become “acceptable behavior,” ESPN’s Tim Bontemps relays. “Tanking is not a new issue for this league,” Silver said. “I think maybe what surprised us all a little bit is how quickly it became acceptable behavior in this league. I think it used to be limited, frankly, to a small group of teams. I think there was — I think I could genuinely stand up and talk about rebuilding and not say ‘tanking,’ and it was practiced in a different way. I don’t know how else to say it. We found ourselves in a situation this year where all of a sudden it seemed like a third of the league maybe was responding in what an economist would say is very rational behavior but nontraditional behavior in terms of what they saw as a clear incentive to fall to the bottom of the standings. And it maybe or likely was compounded by the fact that there’s a perception of a very deep draft class this year. But we ultimately concluded that we needed to take immediate action.”
- The league is still looking into ways to honor former commissioner David Stern, who died six years ago. “I almost think there’s nothing that we can do in some ways that will ultimately feel that he’s getting his just due. … We’re going to come up with the right way to honor him,” Silver said.