NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced the league is moving toward creating an independent NBA Europe League targeting a 2027-28 season launch [1].
The move represents a major strategic expansion to capture the commercial and competitive growth of basketball across Europe. This initiative follows a surge of interest in the sport after the 2024 Paris Olympics [4].
Silver said the details during a news conference in midtown Manhattan, New York, held before the start of the 2026 NBA Finals [2]. He said the NBA and FIBA are officially beginning the process of exploring the creation of the new league [3].
According to Silver, the hopes of starting the independent league by the end of 2027 remain on schedule [1]. The official schedule for the NBA Europe League is slated to begin with the 2027-28 season [2].
The partnership with FIBA is central to the venture's development. Silver said the league is continuing to move toward this European presence to capitalize on the region's basketball potential [1].
While the NBA has long maintained a global brand, this league would mark a shift from marketing existing stars to establishing a permanent, structured competitive ecosystem on the continent. The project aims to integrate the NBA's operational standards with the established basketball culture of Europe [4].
“The NBA's hopes of starting a new independent league in Europe by the end of 2027 are on schedule.”
The creation of an NBA Europe League signals a transition from the NBA acting as a destination for international talent to becoming a direct operator within foreign markets. By partnering with FIBA, the NBA seeks to legitimize its expansion while potentially creating a formal pipeline for talent and revenue that bypasses the traditional EuroLeague structure.
