Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
The new GBB League appears to have let slip news that the NBA will be adding two teams in Europe in 2027. Not only that, the teams will be competing in the new British basketball league.
In April 2025, the British Basketball Federation awarded a 15-year license to GBB League Ltd. to operate the men’s professional league. GBBL is led by Marshall Glickman, the former acting CEO of EuroLeague and former president of the Portland Trail Blazers. It has been met with some opposition from Super League Basketball which was established in 2024.
The new British basketball league was initially supposed to launch in September of 2026. Now, however, that date has been moved back to 2027 and will coincide with what the league claims will be the “first season of NBA Europe.”
“GBB League Ltd. (GBBL) will launch the first season of its new British basketball league in September 2027, coinciding with the anticipated first season of NBA Europe, and to provide sufficient time to work with the British Basketball Federation (BBF), the Home Country Associations and the British basketball community to prepare for the launch of a new elite academy for young players who will represent the future of the Great Britain National Team,” GBBL said in a statement to The Yorkshire Post this week. “Two NBA Europe teams – based in London and Manchester – are expected to compete in GBBL’s new league.”
The 2027 date lines up with FIBA Europe president Jorge Garbajosa saying that he also had heard 2027 as a potential date for the start of NBA Europe.
“I think [NBA Europe will contribute to EuroBasket] only in a positive way because basketball is probably the only sport who have at the same time a partner and a competitor in the NBA in the same ecosystem,” Garbajosa said.
Back in June, NBA commissioner Adam Silver wouldn’t put a specific timeline on the league expanding to Europe. Potential host cities for NBA teams being bandied about at the time were London, Manchester, Rome and Munich.
“I will say it’s measured in years, not months,” Silver said. “So, we’re at least a couple 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, marketing partners. There’s a lot of work to be done.”