By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
At his official NBA All-Star Weekend press conference, Adam Silver once again addressed the issue of possible games, or even a tournament, between NBA and European teams.
That’s a natural evolution, as Silver himself underlined the importance of the international game in his opening statement: “Back 30 years ago, we had 20 international players in the NBA. We have now 120 international players. Over a quarter of our league is international players. Interestingly enough, this season our top five scorers in the league are from five different countries. And All-Stars, roughly a third or so are international players playing here this weekend”.
Asked about the issue itself, Silver took down a stroll in memory lane: “Over the years we’ve had some different tournaments where NBA clubs have played European clubs. I’m sure you recall we had the McDonald’s Championship many years ago”.
That’s why despite the logistic issues, this remains a possibility.
As Silver explained, however, the NBA season and the EuroLeague season cycles create some issues at the moment: “It’s something we’ll continue to look at. I think it’s a question of creating the best possible competition. Part of the issue is the cycle of our season versus the EuroLeague. I don’t think it’s realistic that a team, for example, would finish the Finals, after what we’ve all talked about is a very long season, and then go yet play in another tournament. And then often, because of player movement in this league, it’s a different team the following fall, and they’re not conditioned yet. They haven’t had an opportunity to gel with the team, and then they would enter directly into the competition”.
An in-season tournament including European teams
The solution might be the plan of the NBA to introduce a mid-season tournament, similar to the Cup Final 8 tournaments which are played this week around Europe.
At least, that’s what Silver himself said: “I think long term the way we should be looking at this is — and it may address the issue of the long regular season. I mean, for example, we’ve talked about an in-season tournament to create some additional excitement during the regular season. It may be that at some point there’s an in-season tournament, but it includes clubs from outside the NBA. So those are all ideas we’ll continue to look at”.