Photo: EuroLeague Basketball

EuroLeague CEO Paulius Motiejunas told The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov that he’s working to dissuade the NBA and FIBA from launching a new European league.

“We don’t need a new league. We are doing really good,” Motiejunas said. “The league is growing. We’re happy to go and do it together with NBA and continuously use their power to grow the basketball in Europe. So we’re open to that.”

Motiejunas described his meeting with NBA and FIBA representatives as positive and said a follow-up is planned for September.

“They have a really strong image. They can help with TV deals,” Motiejunas said of a potential partnership with the NBA. “They can help with sponsorship. We can grow the pie bigger if we go and work together. This is always the same message. We need to care about the basketball, the basketball fan, and if we can monetize the game better – and we believe that with the NBA, we can do it better – that’s the strength that we could get them to bring in, and then it comes from that. But we have a huge fan base. We have 25 years of history. This is what we said to them. Why not sit down and see how we go and make decisions together, rather than just creating a new league and for them to start over? This is basically our message.”

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum have been meeting with potential backers for a new international league.

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