Victor Wembanyama’s dominant presence at Paris Games shows why NBA’s possible plans for a European league could work

[ad_1]

PARIS — Before the first game between the San Antonio Spurs and Indiana Pacers on Thursday at the Accor Arena, the league scheduled its annual commissioner’s news conference, a tradition that allows for questions raised by American and international media members to NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

The affair is fairly low-key, with questions often relating to the game at hand or the NBA’s presence in Europe.

For the most part, that was the case again this year. The notable exception, however, was Silver’s outright aggressive approach to European expansion, which he for years has eloquently danced around.

“While Europe continues to develop some of the very best players in the world — many of our most recent MVPs, of course, are European — we think that the commercial opportunity has not kept pace with the growth of the game,” Silver said.

“What we do at the NBA is we run leagues. We, of course, run the WNBA, we have the [Basketball Africa League], we have the G League, we have a 2K video league. So we operate five different leagues, and we think it’s an expertise we have. And so we are looking very closely to see if there’s an opportunity to professionalize the game to another level here to create a larger commercial opportunity.”

Silver’s openness and forthcoming transparency with the possibility of an NBA Europe league came at the perfect time given how the actual game played out, with the Spurs — France’s adopted team — winning 140-110 in an explosive display that brought a level of excitement worthy of a new international endeavor.

Victor Wembanyama dunks against the Indiana Pacers at the Accor Arena on Thursday in Paris. (Photo by Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images)

The Wemby Show

Europeans are well aware that 70% of the NBA is American, and as such, they take enormous pride when one from their respective country makes it to the biggest and most competitive basketball league in the world.

The reaction to Victor Wembanyama before the game was among the loudest and most enthusiastic this writer has ever witnessed in 17 years of covering the game.

The superstar was sensational, finishing with 30 points, 11…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/victor-wembanyamas-dominant-presence-at-paris-games-shows-why-nbas-possible-plans-for-a-european-league-could-work-001647068.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2025-01-24 00:16:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.