By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Former Chicago Bull executive and also former Olympiacos and Barcelona player Arturas Karnisovas is the new addition to the NBA Europe project, as the Athletic reports and sources near the whole process confirm.
This move underscores that the NBA is committed to ensuring that its project in Europe is built by Europeans and sticks true to existing European sporting traditions.
Arturas Karnisovas, given his knowledge, expertise, and experience in and around European basketball, is a move towards this direction.
According to the report, Karnisovas role will be to “advise NBA commissioner Adam Silver and his deputies on governance and game rules for NBA Europe, how to identify and recruit talent, how to create pathways for players into the new league and potentially from the new league to the NBA, and how to expand the continent’s already strong youth player development model”.
He will also be “a liaison between the NBA and the new European competition, NBA Europe and NBA teams, and FIBA, the international governing body for basketball that is partnering with Silver to stand up his new league”.
This report comes just a few hours before the meeting of the NBA Board of Governors, which will review the second round of bids from potential NBA Europe owners on Tuesday and consider next steps, always focusing on their planned October 2027 launch.
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