{"id":2033581,"date":"2026-07-08T18:17:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2033581"},"modified":"2026-07-08T18:17:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:17:08","slug":"as-the-nba-explores-europe-a-euroleague-star-advocates-for-a-merger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2033581","title":{"rendered":"As the NBA explores Europe, a EuroLeague star advocates for a merger"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The United States is still very much alive in the World Cup.<\/p>\n

OK, sorry, not that World Cup<\/a>. Bad joke.<\/p>\n

The basketball World Cup qualifiers are ongoing, and Mike James\u2019 first week with USA Basketball included a qualifying-record 13 assists in a one-point win over the Dominican Republic and a go-ahead basket in the final minute of a one-point win over Mexico.<\/p>\n

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The two wins improved the U.S. men\u2019s national team to 5-1 in qualifiers for the 2027 FIBA World Cup in Qatar, giving the Americans top billing in their group for the first stage that is now complete and setting them on a smooth course toward qualification when the NBA stars take over.<\/p>\n

James, 35, is the EuroLeague\u2019s all-time leading scorer and is qualified to discuss basketball on a global stage: the EuroLeague might merge with a new NBA Europe, or the two leagues could compete.<\/p>\n

So what does James think about NBA commissioner Adam Silver\u2019s overseas work and its impact on the league that made James famous?<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love for them to not make an individual league, but to somehow partner with the league that\u2019s already there,\u201d James told The Athletic<\/em>. \u201cBecause I feel like they have some good things about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The NBA and FIBA said last week they have received final bids for permanent franchises in the proposed league, which is still targeting an October 2027 launch. Also, NBA and EuroLeague officials are meeting this month to determine whether they can merge and form a new league run by the NBA.<\/p>\n

According to sources familiar with the bid process, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details that are under embargo, interest exceeded expectations, with bids ranging from $500 million to more than $1 billion and including more than 20 existing basketball and football clubs, with many of them current EuroLeague teams. NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum said the league was \u201cextremely encouraged\u201d by the response, calling it \u201cthe biggest influx of capital European basketball has ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NBA said it plans to move forward regardless of whether the EuroLeague is on board. The three organizations \u2014 FIBA is also a partner for NBA Europe \u2014 met in Switzerland last month and described those talks as constructive, but there was still work to be done.<\/p>\n

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James, who has had a 14-year career in the EuroLeague, has said it is already a strong basketball product but could benefit from the NBA\u2019s money, marketing and business structure.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, for sure, that the NBA would make a better business model and make a lot of things better if they came over and joined with the EuroLeague,\u201d James said. \u201cI think the EuroLeague has a very good product now, but obviously it needs improvements like everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I want to say it\u2019s perfect or it doesn\u2019t need to be changed or it\u2019s good the way it is. Obviously, it could have some improvements. I think that the NBA would definitely be able to improve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

James specifically pointed to marketing, merchandise, television rights and club revenue as areas where European basketball could grow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say marketing could be better,\u201d James said. \u201cFigure out a way to have more merchandise and maybe be sponsored by one athletic wear brand so it could be sold and we can make more money off of it. TV rights would be nice.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFinding a way for clubs to make more money so the league could be better in general. There\u2019s a lot of things that could be better. But not to pick on it, not to be rude, because I think it\u2019s a great product. It\u2019s just, improvements got to be made.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, James does not favor the NBA planting a separate league in Europe and expecting fans to follow.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause the thing that\u2019s different about Europe than the United States is that obviously players have fans and fans like players, but they\u2019re really fans of the teams,\u201d James said. \u201cThey grow up with the teams their whole life, and they love them. So you can make NBA Europe and have different teams, but if the big teams aren\u2019t over there, the fans are still going to follow the bigger teams and still follow the teams that they\u2019ve been liking since they were 10.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSo the whole new league will be nice. Some people will go, but you won\u2019t get the passionate fans that they have from the league right now. So I would like for it to combine somehow.\u201d<\/p>\n

James said his experience overseas has been \u201cgreat,\u201d mostly because it gave him a career he might not have otherwise had.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get to play basketball still,\u201d James said. \u201cI think being able to play basketball as long as I have and get paid to do it is amazing. It\u2019s something that some people might not think about or take for granted, but I try not to.\u201d<\/p>\n

James won the 2024 EuroLeague MVP award, and in March 2024 he surpassed Greek great Vassilis Spanoulis as the EuroLeague\u2019s all-time leading scorer.<\/p>\n

James averaged 16.5 points in more than 360 EuroLeague games while starring for clubs in Croatia, Israel, Italy, Greece, Spain, Russia and France, most recently helping AS Monaco to three consecutive French league championships.<\/p>\n

He is currently a free agent and said he would \u201clove\u201d to see NBA interest, though he knows he would probably be a late addition if that materialized. For now, he said, his focus is on USA Basketball.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just focused on what I\u2019m doing right now and trying to get two wins and stay healthy as possible,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n

In his first game with the national team, James finished with 15 points and 13 assists in a win at the Dominican Republic on Friday. In his second, he had 19 points, eight rebounds and seven assists at Mexico on Monday, including a basket with 36 seconds left that put the Americans ahead for good.<\/p>\n

James said the opportunity with USA Basketball came after he made a joke about playing, only to learn the interest was real.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they kind of just asked, like, would you actually play?\u201d James said. \u201cI think it was a situation where they didn\u2019t think I would be interested, but I was interested.\u201d<\/p>\n

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James might be near the end of his playing career, but he is not done yet. And if the NBA-backed European league is ready by 2027, he\u2019d be interested if he\u2019s still playing at a high level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think any improvements on the league or just a better league in general, I would love to play,\u201d James said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll still be around by the time (NBA Europe) launches.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same could be said about the EuroLeague.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United States is still very much alive in the World Cup. OK, sorry, not that World Cup. Bad joke. The basketball World Cup qualifiers are ongoing, and Mike James\u2019 first week with USA Basketball included a qualifying-record 13 assists in a one-point win over the Dominican Republic and a go-ahead basket in the final […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-2033581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2033581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2033581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2033581\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2033581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2033581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2033581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}