Alex Lasry: NBA Europe Could Have Soccer-Like Impact on Basketball

Alex Lasry sees the NBA’s global footprint looking more like soccer’s in the coming decade. 

Lasry, whose father, Marc Lasry, owned the Bucks from 2014 to 2023, is currently the CEO of the New York/New Jersey Host Committee for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. And his experience in both sports has him bullish on NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s prospective European venture, which the league plans to launch as early as 2027.  

Lasry noted that multiple countries have top-level soccer leagues, such as England’s Premier League and Spain’s La Liga. He believes that NBA Europe’s impact could be similar, giving professional players a new potential destination during their careers.

“I think I wouldn’t be shocked to see if in five, 10 years the NBA kind of expanded into something like that,” Lasry told Front Office Sports. “Where NBA Europe is now a premier place to play. You know, then maybe you have NBA Asia, right? We’ve already got NBA Africa, and I don’t think it would shock me to see the NBA kind of getting to a model like that.”

Lasry also said the European league would give the NBA soccer-like opportunities in international tournaments. In addition to countries competing in the Olympics and World Cup, professional soccer teams across different leagues routinely face each other in tournaments such as the UEFA Champions League and Europa League.

“I think that’s kind of the ambition that Adam has,” Lasry said. “I think Adam has always been someone who’s trying to think five, 10, 15 years down the road, not just, okay, what do we do today?”