Kevin Durant’s recent stake in European soccer giants Paris Saint-Germain FC is a strategic move that goes beyond the soccer field. The legendary club will also be joining the NBA’s expansion into Europe.
Durant, having successfully built Boardroom, has acquired a minority stake in the French club, striking a strategic investment deal with Qatar Sports Investments, the majority stakeholder of PSG.
As part of this deal, Durant will now look to help PSG succeed in its expansion plans. He will be a key figure in their $500 million expansion and will be heavily involved in the decision-making process for the French club’s basketball arm.
After a lot of chatter around the NBA champions and their viability as world champions, Adam Silver decided to step into the field and settle it once and for all.
The NBA is in talks with multiple EuroLeague teams to make its European expansion a reality. The NBA and the FIBA, the International Basketball Association, are in talks to create a 16-team league that would combine the NBA standard with FIBA rules.
The plan is to have 12 permanent teams and four teams that get selected on merit. The teams would also continue to play in the leagues of their home countries, but then, once a year, compete for the title of Europe. And from there, who knows, maybe we will see an American NBA champion vs a European NBA champion match-up.
In June this year, the NBA commissioner opened up on the progress and timeline for the dream project.
“I will say it’s measured in years, not months,” Silver told the media. “So, we’re at least a couple of years away from launching. It would be an enormous undertaking. And while we want to move forward at a deliberate pace, we also want to make sure that we’re consulting with all the appropriate stakeholders, meaning the existing league, its teams, European players, media companies, and marketing partners. There’s a lot of work to be done.”
LeBron James is also working on a dream project in Europe, but he’s working in an individual capacity. The Los Angeles Lakers star and his business partner, Maverick Carter, have reportedly taken a meeting with Misko Raznatovic, Nikola Jokic’s manager and an important figure in European basketball, to discuss the promotion plans for this league.
They also plan to start a league of their own, outside of the NBA, to provide an alternative to the audiences and include the European markets. Jokic’s manager has agreed to come in as a consultant for the project.
The Akron-born superstar has multiple solid investments, like his stake in the Fenway Sports Group, which makes him a minority owner in Liverpool FC and the Boston Red Sox. So he’s already tasted ownership and understands his way through the red tape.
James’s business acumen is not up for debate. The 4x NBA champ has made over $900 million in career earnings through endorsements and other ventures. But the possibility of a league getting established as an alternative to the NBA, in a market the league is trying to expand into, seems like a dicey situation.
One could make the argument that eventually, the NBA and James’s idea will be combined into one, where the King could take a central and official role in setting it up and getting it running. Both parties have currently shown very little progress, and things are moving gradually.
But it will be interesting to see how these multi-billion-dollar projects take off and whether they collaborate at any point or not.
