The idea of NBA teams playing teams from other leagues has always been intriguing. In fact NBA teams play against Euroleague teams during exhibition. I believe the next step for global basketball’s improvement is to offer a competition for teams worldwide to see who is truly the best. This would be comparable to The UEFA Champions in world football.
I know the NBA teams would most likely dominate. It would make most sense that the best NBA teams not be involved in such a tournament. I think the best options for such a tournament would be the lottery teams. When the top 16 teams are playing for the championship, the NBA can get the lower tiered teams to have their own competition. This allows more revenue from competitive games, international coverage, and global expansion of basketball.
I personally love the game of basketball. Soccer/ Football is the most popular sport in the world. The second on that list is arguable, from hockey to baseball to tennis to even combat sports. Basketball is definitely the fastest growing sports, which is illustrated through the high level of international players in the NBA. Here are the courtires outside of the USA that have the most NBA talent:
Canada: 12 Players
France: 10 Players
Australia: 8 Players
Brazil: 7 Players
Spain: 5 Players
Italy: 4 Players
http://www.nba.com/global/map/
As you can see, talent is coming from all over the globe. All continents are providing NBA level basketball players. I personally want to see better international games. We need Basketball games that compare to FIFA classics, such as Germany vs France or Italy vs France. Seeing the USA dominate is getting boring. But this article isn’t about international compeiton, but the development of club basketball.
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