David Stern is considering teams in China and Europe

[ronaldo_VII]

i like the idea of Championships in N.A, Europe and Asia playing against each other
but i don't think it will work properly in China
as the Chinese soccer league is very corrupted LOL

[Tuomas]

Stern added that he has a 20-year plan to have five Nba franchises in Europe. "

Good thing he won't be around for that long.

[Raps13]

This is crap... Doesn't he realize that Europe and NBA are way too different to create somethin' both... The traveling would be a curse for players, especially the western conference teams... I think this is a very bad idea...

Teams from America wouldn't be travelling to Europe,Asia etc.

What Stern is proposing is new leagues in those places which would fly under the NBA brand. With the way the league is going, that being becoming more European, open, and talent orientated, I think this could work.

As someone mentioned I think the biggest hurdle would be the culture image that the NBA would carry being an American league first and foremost

[RapsPlayoffs]

i also think this is a bad idea...
why dont we just make like a second league(in the future) in foreign countries so for example if we have 10 teams in china the those 10 teams will play each other and in pre season those teams can play the north america teams and same thing for europe
but there is alreaady the euro league..
so i mean... you'd think this is something we can accomplish in the future, but i dont think it would be such a good idea... maybe when we invent a faster/easier way to travel

[Anthony15]

Maybe in London...but not anywhere else. + London's team plays its first or last 41 games at home and 41 it plays on the road, which would suck...41 game road trip :S

[jonthefon]

European D-League

But that would be sucking everything out of Europe if NBA teams just signed players from development teams.

[_marsal]

I don't think it's such a good idea. But there should be some kind of Tournament at the end of the season (yeah, i know everyone is tired by then), where top 4 teams from NBA and top 4 from Europe would go head to head. Why? I just think that CSKA or Panathinaikos would beat the hell out of teams like (this year's) Memphis, Boston etc..So it would be interesting to see matchups between, for example, Spurs, Mavs, Suns and Pistons and CSKA, Panathinaikos, Tau Ceramica and Real Madrid.

[Andrew]

why dont we just make like a second league(in the future) in foreign countries so for example if we have 10 teams in china the those 10 teams will play each other and in pre season those teams can play the north america teams and same thing for europe

That's basically what Stern is suggesting, although he's also expressed an interest in expanding NBA franchises in Europe in addition to establishing NBA sponsored/affiliated leagues in other countries.

[BIG GREEN]

I dunno about china but the ballers are off the chain in europe...it would make alot fo sense. Let's not forget that alot of the superstars in the league today are from overseas and we already have an internatonal team...its called the 'Toronto' Rapters.

[BigKaboom2]

Expansion is baaaaaaad. So bad.

http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/page2/sto ... ons/030225

The first half of that article explains more or less why.

[shadowgrin]

Americans aren't to popular over here allready, as they have a imperalistic reputation.

Damn those Americans and their colonial empire, if only they'd be more like Europe...

First time I've read a history joke to be funny.

[Indy]

This would never happen only because the games wouldn't be on prime time in the US.

[IceCold]

China and Latin America even havent got good tems,so how they gonna play in NBA they will be crushed there,Europe is better idea,very good basketball level just like in NBA maybe less better,but still very attractive to fans,great players,

[Sauru]

it sounds to me like he just wants to sell the nba logo and name to europe, i see nothing wrong with that. they can have thier own nba sponsered league. wont matter is those games are on here primetime, no one will want to watch them anyway. hell this might help in getting the international rules for the olympics changed to be more like the nba.

actually i do see 1 downside. where so many good players are coming from overseas now, if they can just stay there and play for the nba, we might see less and less good foreign players