Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game uses a new format, pitting an international team against two teams composed of American players.
The fact that the league has grown to the point where an international team could be recognized and even favored by BetMGM is the result of decades of global investment and marketing aimed at turning basketball into a sport with broad appeal.
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International talent stays here
The shift in global power isn’t lost on NBA Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Tatum.
“The NBA has never had as much talent as it does today, in large part because basketball is more global than ever before,” Tatum told Yahoo Sports.
With the All-Star Game now featuring an entire roster of non-American players, questions do exist about how U.S. observers will receive international stars like Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic and Victor Wembunyama.
But Tatum didn’t waver.
“At the end of the day, our fans are attracted to elite talent and compelling stories, no matter where the player is from,” Tatum said. “Victor Wembanyama is a great example, he is the fastest player in NBA history to reach 1 billion views on social media.”
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Historically, Tatum is right. The league has been filled with international stars before, although the number of stars now is unparalleled.
Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, Pau Gasol and Manu Ginobili were pioneers in the early to mid-2000s, laying the groundwork for the league to embrace talent that could not be developed on American soil.
The fact that all four players have won titles makes the transition easier, especially for management, who can look overseas and embrace a new ideology and development model.
The approach paid off, with Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Giannis Antetokounmpo all winning titles.
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Tatum noted that “approximately 30 percent” of the NBA’s players are international players, which the league believes helps get adequate representation among its three All-Star teams.
international expansion
The next step in the NBA’s embrace of the globalization of basketball is, of course, the establishment of a new league in Europe, which has been widely discussed for years and is currently in the early stages of development.
There are some concerns among people in the European basketball community about how the NBA will form the league and whether it will respect the history of European basketball.
Tatum believes the NBA is indeed taking these factors seriously.
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“We are very intentional about making sure our plans in Europe build on the solid foundations already in place on the continent. Celebrating, nurturing and elevating the rich traditions and history that make European basketball so special is the foundation of everything we want to create,” Tatum said. “Working closely with FIBA, we are confident we can design a truly European league – built by Europeans, played by Europeans and designed for European fans – while bringing this experience to more fans across the continent and creating new traditions.
“Our proposed league will provide every team in Europe’s FIBA-affiliated domestic leagues with an annual performance-based promotion pathway, which we believe will benefit players, domestic leagues, the wider ecosystem and, most importantly, fans.”
It’s critical that Tatum and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stick to their plan, as this is undoubtedly the biggest challenge they face in growing “NBA Europe.”
If European fans feel their history is being pushed away, they may reject it and protest the American league’s takeover of their traditions and basketball habits.
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But experiencing international competition through this All-Star format could be a small step toward the NBA attracting an international audience, especially in Europe.
Global NBA Championship?
The NBA established a league called BAL in Africa in 2019 and will have its first season in 2021.
With another league potentially developing in Europe and the NBA already established in North America, would the league consider hosting a major continental tournament with teams from each league?
Tatum didn’t shut down the idea and even incorporated the concept into the structure of the NBA Cup.
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“It’s something we’re still considering, but overall, we think there’s a tremendous opportunity to attract more fans by creating new tournaments or competitions between NBA teams and teams in other leagues around the world, including the BAL and potentially our leagues in Europe,” Tatum said. “Further forward, I think we might see teams from Europe and around the world competing in tournaments such as the NBA Cup. While there’s nothing imminent, conceptually we’re open to anything that helps continue to elevate the level of the sport globally.”
The NBA is thinking big and looking for ways to activate more of its fan base.
Including international teams in the NBA Cup makes sense and could be a streamlined way to introduce different teams to a global audience.
We’ll see how this all plays out, but there’s no doubt the NBA is thinking outside the box and beyond its borders.
