“Let me be clear from the start: this will not be an NBA development league, but the top club competition on the continent. Timeline? We don’t have a date yet. We are focused on understanding how it could work and how everyone can benefit from it. Only after that will we talk about timing,” said George Aivazoglou, head of NBA Europe, in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport. Many topics were addressed in the conversation with Davide Chinellato—here are some key excerpts:
ON THE ROLE OF ITALY AND ROME
“A very important one. Italy is one of the most basketball-engaged countries in Europe, and also a major business market. There are great teams in your country, but also cities like Rome that, in our view, don’t currently have the place they deserve in European basketball. We want to change that.”
ON ROME
“In this league, we envision the involvement of existing clubs that already have millions of fans worldwide. But also teams that could come from other sports organizations—football, for instance—with a massive fan base but not necessarily a presence in basketball. Some might even be created from scratch. In Rome’s case, we’re open to all options: I can imagine a scenario where we form a partnership with one of the city’s major football clubs, or one where we create a new team entirely.”
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