EuroLeague CEO gives honest verdict on the NBA trying to create a new league in Europe, ‘always the same message’

In the Association, only the best of the best thrive. As such, the players in the NBA are considered the best in the world, all to varying degrees.

But that isn’t to say there aren’t talented players outside of the NBA. European basketball has been thriving in the last few years, and created some of the brightest prospects in the league today.

Stars like Luka Doncic, Victor Wembanyama, and Nikola Jokic cut their teeth in Europe before eventually making the jump to the NBA.

But with reports of the NBA trying to create a league in Europe to compete with the EuroLeague, their leadership believes it’s obvious what they are trying to do.

Euroleague CEO open to collaborating with Adam Silver

EuroLeague CEO Paulius Motiejunas spoke in an interview with The Athletic recently. When talking about how the NBA can work with the EuroLeague, he mentioned their openness to collaborating.

However, Commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA haven’t necessarily recognized just how popular the EuroLeague is, and they don’t try to work with them.

“They have a really strong image. They can help with TV deals, they can help with sponsorship. We can grow the pie bigger if we go and work together. This is always the same message.

“We need to care about the basketball, the basketball fan, and if we can monetize the game better — and we believe that with the NBA, we can do it better — that’s the strength that we could get them to bring in, and then it comes from that.

“But we have a huge fan base. We have 25 years of history. This is what we said to them. Why not sit down and see how we go and make decisions together, rather than just creating a new league and for them to start over? This is basically our message.

“And like I said, we are open to making decisions together and pitching together and working together to, firstly, grow the pie, and then, you know, the division part is easy. First, you need to kill the animal to see how much meat is on the table to divide.”

Euroleague doesn’t see NBA as a threat to their survival

While the NBA isn’t necessarily open to collaborating with the EuroLeague, its CEO doesn’t see them as a threat to its survival.

“I don’t see it as a threat to us, to the league. We can see from the TV deals, we can see from the sponsorship, we can see from the interest of the clubs to play EuroLeague that it’s not a threat and it’s more a confusion.

“And if you look at the bigger picture, I keep repeating this, we need to care about the game — the game of basketball and the fans of basketball.

“This new league would create confusion. It would create division, and on simple terms, you go to the sponsor, and you say, ‘I’m now this new, you know, NBA League.’ And then we go, ‘Well, we are EuroLeague.’ And then, oh, there’s this Champions League; oh, there’s this EuroCup.

“For the hardcore fans, everybody knows EuroLeague, and everybody knows Europe. And we are not afraid to lose these fans, because we believe we have a better product right away on the court.”

In fairness to Motiejunas, the EuroLeague is still a viable option for players. In fact, recently, Jonas Valanciunas tried to leave the Nuggets to go to Europe.

It would be better for the wider basketball world if the NBA worked hand-in-hand with the EuroLeague, rather than try to compete with them.