Rumors

Marc Stein: UPDATE: After strong interest from Rome’s new Serie A team, Pistons adviser Dwane Casey has withdrawn from the process to stay in the NBA with Detroit, league sources say. Donnie Nelson, who worked with Casey in Dallas, led BC Roma’s pursuit of the 2018 NBA Coach of the Year.

x.com

For those first dozen teams, the group is speaking with bidders in Athens, Greece; Barcelona, Spain; Berlin; Istanbul; London; Lyon, France; Madrid, Spain; Manchester, England; Milan; Munich; Paris; and Rome. “We’re extremely encouraged by the final bids we received for permanent franchises,” Mark Tatum, NBA deputy commissioner, said in a statement. “This will be the biggest influx of capital European basketball has ever seen, and we have clear front-runners in each of our 12 target cities, including many existing basketball and football clubs. We will now work with the NBA and FIBA Boards to finalize the long-form agreements.”

Sportico

Coach Rome: cam carr’s dad chris carr confirmed that luka doncic and austin reaves have already texted cam welcoming him to the lakers

x.com

Did he want to help move a professional basketball team to Rome? The question came from Donnie Nelson, a former Mavericks executive who had brought Mr. Doncic to the National Basketball Association from Europe and was among those celebrating the win. Mr. Doncic barely had to think before answering yes. The pair are now the lead decision makers of an investment group that has bought a northern Italian basketball team, Vanoli Cremona, from a town that is famous for its violin makers. The group plans to move the team to Rome and submitted a bid to be the Roman representative in the N.B.A.’s ambitious plan to create a league in Europe.

New York Times

Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Doncic made a major announcement on social media on Friday, stating: "Basketball is coming back to Rome.” As a minority shareholder, Doncic is referring to a new European basketball team that could eventually become part of a potential NBA Europe project. Rome has been without a top-level team since the bankruptcy of Virtus Roma in 2020, which left the Italian capital outside the elite basketball landscape for several years.

BasketNews

Rome will again have a basketball team at the top European level, and it’s not Virtus Roma, the club that stopped existing in 2021. As “Gazzetta dello Sport” reports, on Tuesday afternoon (12/5), the Italian basketball federation is expected to formally approve the move of Vanoli Cremona Basketball, a club founded in 1999, to the Italian Capital.

EuroHoops.net

Silver wants to put new teams in London, Paris, Rome, and Manchester, England, backed by soccer giants and the biggest investment funds in the world (the Saudi PIF has expressed interest). Existing clubs with similar financial backing are being targeted in Barcelona and Madrid, in Milan, in Athens and Istanbul, Berlin and Munich, and Lyon, France. If Silver is (and in all likelihood, he will be) successful in bringing this new league on line, current NBA players said, overwhelmingly, they would consider, some day, playing in NBA Europe. “Yeah, it would interest me a little bit. I think that’s pretty cool,” said Charlotte rookie and Rising Star Kon Knueppel.

New York Times

Luka Doncic is part of an investor group headed by former Dallas Mavericks general manager Donnie Nelson that is seeking to bring a team to Rome as part of NBA Europe, three sources told The Athletic. Nelson, 63, the son of legendary former NBA coach and executive Don Nelson, has a preliminary agreement in place to purchase an existing basketball team from northern Italy, Vanoli Basket Cremona, to potentially set up a much larger play of entering a team into NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s new European league.

New York Times

The NBA Europe plan also includes other teams in major European cities, and Rome is reportedly a potential location thanks to the backing of a wealthy entrepreneur. "A team in Rome? Yes, Rome will be there. There’s an option on the table linked to a very wealthy entrepreneur," he confirmed.

BasketNews

NBA Europe managing director George Aivazoglou confirmed that the project will launch in October 2027, adding that teams from Rome, Milan (Italy), London, Manchester (United Kingdom), Paris, Lyon (France), Madrid, Barcelona (Spain), Berlin, Munich (Germany), one team from Athens (Greece) and Istanbul (Turkiye) will be playing in the competition.

BasketNews

Warriors guard Buddy Hield on his offseason travels to Rome: “Gladiator. I watched Gladiator and I thought Maximus was a real warrior. I’m going into the Colosseum yelling ‘Maximus!’ and my tour guide was like, ‘He’s not real.’"

reddit

Tatum pointed to the lack of permanent Euroleague teams in key cities including London, Paris, Berlin and Rome, and said the investment that comes with a new league would help bring sorely needed basketball infrastructure to the region. "The lack of world-class basketball facilities in Europe is striking relative to the affinity there," Tatum said. "There are big markets in Europe that aren't being serviced today, where there are millions of basketball fans that aren't being serviced."

Straits Times

The NBA’s plan is to create a new competition with teams based in major European capitals. In addition to Madrid and Barcelona, candidate cities for one of the eight to ten franchises include London, Manchester, Paris, Lyon, Rome, Milan, and Berlin.

elespanol.com

Adam Zagoria: After Bronny James and Sierra Canyon played in London, Paris and Rome over the summer, the @Hoophall will also hold a high school event in London in December pic.twitter.com/FCgGo1m2nN

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