NBA Europe: The $3 Billion Plan to Conquer the Continent With Soccer Giants and OG Anunoby

The NBA‘s global ambitions have never been more concrete. Commissioner Adam Silver has put forward a bold expansion plan — NBA Europe — designed to extend basketball’s footprint across the continent while giving existing franchise owners a new avenue to unlock value. The proposed league is set to launch in 2027, with start-up costs exceeding $3 billion.

The target cities read like a European travel itinerary: London, Manchester, Paris, Lyon, Madrid, Barcelona, Rome, Milan, Berlin, Munich, Athens, and Istanbul. The format envisions 12 permanent franchises, with four additional spots available through promotion from existing leagues — a nod to European sporting culture that the NBA rarely acknowledges.

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3 avr. 2026

Nicolas Flamecourt

OG Anunoby and the London opportunity

Few voices carry more weight in this conversation than OG Anunoby. The London-born Knicks forward is actively backing a London franchise push, and his profile has never been higher. In Game 4 of the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs, Anunoby dropped 33 points and delivered a block on De’Aaron Fox that has already entered New York folklore. He called it « probably the top of British basketball history. »

His investment in the cause goes beyond sentiment — he was previously a minority shareholder in the London Lions. Speaking to BBC Sport, Anunoby laid out his vision plainly: « I think London, especially, is an untapped market. There’s so much talent and so many people playing basketball, so I think it would be amazing to bring a team to Manchester and London and continue growing in England. » He added: « I want them to see that someone from where they are from is doing this. There is a lot of untapped potential. »

His words carry statistical weight. In 2025-2026, 71 Europeans featured on NBA rosters out of 135 international players. Luka Doncic, who cut his teeth at Real Madrid before becoming an NBA superstar, has already acquired a stake in Italian club Vanoli Cremona — with reported plans to relocate the franchise to Rome if NBA Europe launches.

Soccer’s Trojan Horse strategy

Perhaps the most intriguing dimension of the NBA Europe project is who’s already positioned to benefit: European soccer’s elite. Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, AS Monaco, and Olympiacos all operate basketball arms in the EuroLeague. For these clubs, NBA Europe represents a strategic extension of what Professor Kieran Maguire, a football finance lecturer at the University of Liverpool, calls a « multi-sport entertainment destination » model.

« You play fewer than one match per week at home, which doesn’t cover your bills, » Maguire explained. « Extending the brand of your football club into something like basketball has potential benefits. » He described the approach as a potential Trojan horse: « You could use the football club as a Trojan horse to attract fans in general into the new sport. »

But Maguire was careful to temper expectations. He pointed to the mixed results of e-sports ventures and the outright failure of NFT initiatives by soccer clubs. « Trying to persuade football fans to become basketball fans won’t be easy because it is expensive enough already to support a football club, » he noted. « The broadcast landscape is so dominated by domestic and European soccer, so you’re fighting for eyeballs. »

Negotiations with EuroLeague remain complicated, and whether these soccer giants will become fully fledged NBA Europe franchises is still an open question. The $3 billion masterplan is ambitious — but the audience it needs is not yet guaranteed.