This week, the NBA and the EuroLeague will come together and see if there is a united future for basketball in Europe. Chus Bueno told The Athletic that he is set to talk to a high-ranking NBA executive later this week to start discussions on how the two leagues might work together going forward as the NBA seeks to start its own league on the continent and the EuroLeague, long seen as the second-best basketball league in the world, works to maintain its place in the sport.
The conversation between Bueno, the recently appointed EuroLeague CEO, and George Aivazoglou, will come amid a newly softening relationship between the two sides. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said last month that he hopes to cooperate in building basketball in Europe.
For a while, that did not seem likely as the EuroLeague rejected the NBA’s appeals to partner together and the NBA made clear it intended to run any basketball league it was a part of. But that was under old leadership for the EuroLeague. It replaced its former CEO, Paulius Motiejūnas, in February with Bueno, a former NBA executive in Europe, in the middle of a pivotal time for the league and for European basketball.
Now, as he gets set to talk with the NBA about the sport’s future in Europe, he said he is open to almost anything, from merging with the NBA’s European league or having it buy equity in the EuroLeague.
“We think that everything is on the table,” he said during a lengthy conversation with The Athletic. “And I know what the NBA brings to the table, and I know that the NBA would like to operate (a league). And let’s have a discussion. If it makes sense for the teams, why not? You’re going to hear this from me. If it makes sense, why not? And this makes sense. Everything is on the table. But it has to make sense — business reasons, basketball reasons, and I think it’s (too early) to define because I want to hear from the NBA first. But we are open to any scenario.”
Bueno said he had waited to talk to the NBA until after they had finished recruiting non-binding proposals for franchises in their league, at their request. That deadline passed at the end of last month, and the NBA drew a glut of interest, including multiple offers with more than $1 billion in investment, The Athletic reported last week.
The NBA has looked far and wide for ownership groups that could finance and stand up franchises in its proposed league. It is seeking between $500 million to $1 billion in expansion fees for teams across Europe’s biggest cities. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has shown interest in a team in London; Qatar Sports Investment, the owners of soccer giant PSG, is eying one in Paris; and RedBird Capital, which owns AC Milan and is an investor in Paramount, wants a team in Milan.
Those groups would include newly formed teams, but the NBA has also shown interest in attracting current EuroLeague franchises into its project. It has talked to Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid and Fenerbahçe, a successful Turkish club. Both compete in the EuroLeague at the moment, but have not re-signed their licenses to return to the league next season. Bueno is optimistic that they will and stay.
“I don’t see why not, because they still, if they get a deal with the NBA in the future, when they come and we have a partnership, they can go to the NBA,” he said. “But I assume that they will renew the license, because it’s expiring at the end of June, and at some point we have to continue, right? I mean, we are going to start doing the next competition, the next season, and if the NBA comes, we already said that we should have a conversation. Because if they have raised the money, and I’m going to believe that they did, because (NBA deputy commissioner) Mark (Tatum) said the other day, they are good to do that, and we are going to have a conversation. I think that we are going to have a deal. If we have a deal, perfect. If we don’t have a deal, we have a plan.”
The EuroLeague’s plan for its future, pushed by Bueno and, he said, approved by its board, includes transitioning its 13 core members from renewable licenses to permanent franchises, and then expanding. He said the league could add another five franchises within the next three years. Already, Bueno said, seven teams and one city have shown interest in doing so.
No matter what happens with the NBA, he said, the league needs to change. Bueno said it is already building its relationship with FIBA — the two organizations have not seen eye to eye and FIBA is partnering with the NBA on its European league — and domestic leagues, as he hopes to keep the sport’s ecosystem from fragmenting on the continent.
“If they come, our recommendation to all the clubs is: sit down all together and have a conversation with the NBA and investors and everything that they have to the table,” he said. “Sit down, trying to see how we can merge, partner, you name it, put the name and create the best basketball ecosystem and the best league possible. Because what I believe is that if we have two colleagues appearing on fragmentation, one team here, one thing there is not going to be good for anyone.”
But his “ideal scenario,” Bueno said, is if the NBA merges with the EuroLeague, creating one giant league that marries his franchises with the dozen or so that the NBA intends to have. He is also open to the NBA buying the EuroLeague and the leagues coming together as a result of that transaction.
Bueno is long familiar with the NBA and their plans. He was an NBA executive for a dozen years based in Europe until 2022, when he left to join Legends and then a one-year spell as managing director of basketball at DAZN. During that time, he said he worked on attempts to bring the NBA to start in Europe, similar to what it is doing now.
In his current role, however, he is trying to stabilize the EuroLeague in a newly challenging ecosystem and as a bridge between where he was and where he is.
“I think that I could be a little bit of glue, because I know both organizations,” he said. “And I know there is trust among us. So, if I say something, I mean it. We will both negotiate, and we both are trying to do what’s the best deal for our partners. We have to win (for) everyone. If there is someone that is winning the negotiation, but isn’t balancing the execution, the execution is not going to work.
“So, it’s not about the deal, it’s about the theory, but it comes after the deal to make this successful. Because if not, a lot of people that are putting a lot of time, resources and money will lose money, time, and it will be expensive. So, it’s about the whole process. It’s not only about the deal. It’s about what is happening after. And I think that both organizations can help each other a lot.”