NBA chiefs are understood to have been encouraged by a lengthy meeting with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer this week in which they discussed plans to launch a European league.
Starmer hosted NBA commissioner Adam Silver and deputy commissioner Mark Tatum at No10 Downing Street on Wednesday during an ongoing tour of Europe by the US basketball organisation’s leadership.
Sources with knowledge of the talks said the NBA took encouragement from the discussions, not least because Starmer gave up more than 60 minutes of his schedule just hours after his declaration that the UK would recognise a Palestinian state.
Among the matters discussed were the possible impact of NBA Europe on both the UK economy and its basketball fans. Current plans would see both London and Manchester have franchises in the pan-continental competition.
The NBA has taken a deliberately cautious approach to launching a European league, conscious of the fact that it would be a major undertaking. With that in mind it is understood to want to present its plans to stakeholders at the highest levels in order to garner support.
Conversations are set to continue as the NBA further fleshes out its proposals. No start date for NBA Europe has been set but the project has been gathering pace and could advance further at a key meeting of its board of governors next month.
NBA Europe is set to be a joint venture with world governing body Fiba, which operates the existing Basketball Champions League – one of two major pan-European club competitions in what is a fragmented landscape on this side of the Atlantic.
NBA commisisoner Adam Silver met PM Starmer as part of a week of European meetings
NBA and Sadiq Khan discuss London basketball
Silver and Tatum also met with London Mayor Sadiq Khan on Tuesday, the day before it was confirmed that a regular-season NBA game would be staged in the capital next year for the first time since 2019. Manchester will also host a game in 2027.
The meeting with Khan is understood to have been to mark that agreement and also to explore what else the NBA can do in London around the game in January and beyond.
Khan has been a prominent backer of the London Lions basketball team in their ambition of creating a purpose-built, world-class basketball arena. It is understood no decision has been made yet on whether the Lions or a new franchise would be London’s NBA Europe team.
Silver and Tatum also held meetings in London this week with several private equity and venture capital firms about investing in franchises, including CVC Capital Partners, RedBird, Bridgepoint, KKR and HongShan.
The NBA is expected to try to recruit some of Europe’s biggest clubs to its league and to that end Silver and Tatum held talks with Turkish side Galatasaray in London on Tuesday and Real Madrid in Paris on Thursday. They are set to meet with Alba Berlin today.
The NBA declined to comment. No10 has been approached for comment.