NBA: Why do the NBA’s European plans divide opinion?

Last month, Tatum told BBC Sport that the NBA wanted to collaborate with the EuroLeague on plans and that any NBA Europe plan would be to help the sport’s overall growth.

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

“I’m here to grow basketball in Europe, to make it better,” Motiejunas told BBC Sport. “From time to time new projects or new ideas come along. They can grow the status quo or make it much better or they can hurt it.

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

As for the EuroLeague, the NBA’s early plans are similar to its current structure of a semi-open league of major franchises, as well as associated clubs, with the EuroLeague currently having promoted berths available outside of the EuroCup.

Part of the NBA’s mandate 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 several years.

“We built the business around basketball. We know the markets, [where] basketball is really mature,” Motiejunas explained.

“They’re coming in and they’re creating business and using basketball to do it. It’s a completely different approach because if you take the cities that they’ve announced, we’ve been watching them for the last 10 years.

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

“That’s why I say we would like them to draw on our know-how and work together.”

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