NBA Eyes October 2027 Start, 12 ‘Big’ Markets for European League

The NBA’s European league plans are taking shape.

At a conference organized by Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport, George Aivazoglou, the NBA’s managing director for Europe and the Middle East, revealed some goals the league has for the launch of its new professional basketball league across the pond.

One of them is to tip-off its first season in less than two years.

“We’re thinking to start, we’re working toward starting in October 2027,” Aivazoglou said.

The timing isn’t exactly a surprise, as commissioner Adam Silver said at the Front Office Sports Tuned In summit in September that the league wants to launch in “two to three years.” Deputy commissioner Mark Tatum said last month that the goal is to launch “in the next two years.”

The league has yet to solidify October 2027 as the exact launch date. Gazzetta dello Sport initially published a story saying the league would definitively launch in October 2027, but edited the report to clarify Aivazoglou’s statement.

An October start date would align with the start of the domestic NBA season.

Aivazoglou also added more information about the possible markets of the NBA Europe teams. Tatum said that the NBA wants a 16-team league, 12 of which will be permanent, and Aivazoglou named 12 “big European cities” the league is eyeing:

• UK: London, Manchester
• France: Paris, Lyon
• Spain: Madrid, Barcelona
• Italy: Milan, Rome
• Germany: Berlin, Munich
• Greece: Athens
• Turkey: Istanbul

Tatum previously said that the league will consist of existing clubs, new clubs, and soccer organizations creating a basketball program. It’s still unclear how many from each category will be among NBA Europe’s founding dozen of teams. 

The remaining four clubs are expected to play their way into the league through a qualifying process, which could include winning the Basketball Champions League organized by FIBA. 

“There would be four open spots that teams across the continent would qualify for on an annual basis through a transparent, merit-based process, either by winning their respective domestic leagues and then playing into the Basketball Champions League, or we could create one big play-in tournament of the domestic champions,” Tatum said.

While NBA’s European league will be a separate entity from the NBA in the U.S., Aivazoglou said envisions a “crossover” between the two leagues down the line, whether through a new tournament or the NBA Cup.

“A new tournament of sorts, or competition, where you can have teams from NBA Europe play teams from [the] NBA in the U.S.. And maybe over time that integration becomes even more organic. I can see a scenario where something like the NBA Cup has four NBA teams and four European teams, or maybe in the future to create some sort of club world competition like FIFA did this past summer,” he said.

The NBA’s European league is expected to compete directly with the EuroLeague as the top basketball league across the pond, but it may have another competitor soon. 

Project B, the basketball league backed by tech investors top athletes including Candace Parker, Novak Djokovic, and Steve Young, says it plans to launch a men’s basketball league in the future, which would also have a fall start date. The league just announced the signing of WNBA All-Star Nneka Ogwumike for its women’s league that launches in November 2026.