By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
Before the show could start taking place in the NBA Finals, with the Indiana Pacers getting Game 1 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, thanks to Tyrese Haliburton’s decisive game-winning shot, Adam Silver spoke in his annual news conference.
Among the topics covered, he also talked about the upcoming opportunity of launching a competition in Europe, as previously mentioned in a joint announcement with FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis.
As Silver said, “We have been discussing potentially creating a league in Europe. I view that as a form of expansion as well. Again, just as the same as in American cities, we think there’s an opportunity to serve fans in Europe. No knock on European basketball, because most of those international MVPs I just talked about are coming from Europe. There’s really high-level basketball being played there. But we think there is an opportunity to better serve fans there. I view that as a form of expansion as well, and that’s something we’re also thinking hard about”.
The opportunity to expand outside the United States was mentioned right after speaking about the expansion within the country, setting aside such a possibility for the moment.
“We recognize there are underserved markets in the United States, and elsewhere – markets that deserve to have NBA teams. Probably even if we were to expand, more than we can serve,” Silver said.
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