Luka Doncic knows European basketball about as well as any NBA superstar.
And when it comes to the league’s plans for NBA Europe, the Lakers star sees one fairly obvious problem.
“There’s EuroLeague, EuroCup and then NBA Europe,” Doncic told Sports Illustrated. “It is going to be three leagues. That’s kind of hard to work. There should be one league. That’s how it works.”
Doncic’s comments come as the NBA and FIBA continue moving forward with plans for a new European competition, even after EuroLeague shareholders reportedly rejected the NBA’s initial proposal for a partnership.
The NBA and FIBA said Thursday that they still believe cooperation between the three organizations could “unify the European basketball ecosystem.” But Doncic’s point gets directly to what may be the biggest complication: Europe already has an established top-level competition, and the EuroLeague isn’t exactly lining up to step aside.
Doncic grew up in that system, joining Real Madrid as a teenager before becoming EuroLeague MVP and leading the club to the 2018 championship. So this isn’t merely an NBA player commenting on expansion from afar. He has lived both sides of it.
Whether the NBA and EuroLeague eventually find common ground remains to be seen. But Doncic’s preference sounds pretty clear.
One major European competition makes considerably more sense to him than three of them competing for teams, players and attention.
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