By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Serbian media outlet Meridian Sport recently published a story about the possibility of the NBA forming a league in Europe “without intermediaries from the EuroLeague and FIBA, in direct communication with the biggest clubs.”
The President of FIBA Europe, Jorge Garbajosa, commented on the subject, emphasizing that the NBA has signaled its intention to cooperate with FIBA.
“We’ve all heard it. The rumors suggest they will do it on their own, but Mr. Adam Silver made it very clear during a press conference at the Olympic Games – whatever we do in Europe, it will be hand in hand with FIBA,” Garbajosa told MaxBet Sport, before explaining why NBA sees FIBA as its main partner:
“This is very important for us. First of all, it’s crucial to be close to one of the key players in the global basketball ecosystem. And also because if Mr. Silver said that, it’s because, honestly, we’ve earned a lot of respect from them in recent years for the way we take care of our sport. At the moment, we don’t know what these announcements mean or what will ultimately happen, but for us, the NBA, Silver, and his colleague Mike Tatum must consider us for anything they might do in Europe.”
He also touched on the conflicting schedules between the EuroLeague and FIBA.
“Trust me, we’ve been trying for a year. We’ve been meeting to find a solution, but not a short-term one. Our hope and desire were to find a long-term solution. We made proposals, but no agreement was reached. The EuroLeague ultimately proposed extending the agreement for another year, but that wasn’t enough for us,” Garbajosa said.
As the Spanish legend added: “We have great respect for the clubs. It’s not like people like to say, that FIBA only cares about national teams – not at all. We care about clubs and national leagues, where we have an excellent relationship with ULEB. We’re trying to find something that works best for both players and fans. That includes national teams playing at some point during the season, represented by the best players. We deeply believe that combination is the right approach.”