NBA: Why do the NBA’s plans in Europe divide opinion?

Last month, Tatum told BBC Sport that the NBA wanted to collaborate with the Euroleague on plans and that any plans for the NBA in Europe would be to help with the overall growth of the sport.

However, EuroLeague CEO Paulius Motijonas said the NBA’s proposals would only “harm” the sport, and that an additional league was “not necessary.”

“I’m here to develop basketball in Europe, to make it better,” Motijonas told BBC Sport. “From time to time, you get these new projects or new ideas. They can either add to the status quo, make it much better, or they can be harmful.”

“I truly believe this will only harm the status quo rather than improve it if it continues the way it has been presented.”

As far as the EuroLeague is concerned, the NBA’s early plans resemble its current structure of a semi-open league of core franchises, plus associated clubs, with the EuroLeague currently having rookie spots available outside of the European Cup.

Part of the NBA’s remit is to target major cities without permanently licensed franchises in major cities with permanent top-tier EuroLeague teams in the United Kingdom, Berlin and Rome.

This concept is not new to the EuroLeague, which has been trying to target similar markets for a number of years.

“We built our business around basketball. We know the markets; [where] “Basketball is really mature,” Motijunas explained.

“They come in and create businesses and use basketball to do that. It’s a completely different approach because if you take the cities they’ve announced, we’ve been looking at these cities for the last 10 years.”

“It’s not easy to open them because of football, because of the different mentality and because of the different sports that are there. We know how difficult it is.

“That is why I say that we hope they will benefit from our knowledge and work together.”

The EuroLeague remains open to discussions with the NBA about its plans, but it is not hopeful.