Jorge Garbajosa: NBA Europe will happen

FIBA Europe president Jorge Garbajosa refused to commit to a timeline but reiterated that NBA Europe will happen. Garbajosa, alongside FIBA Europe executive director Kamil Novak, addressed this topic and more with the media in their end of tournament press conference for EuroBasket 2025.

The medals don’t get decided until Sunday but EuroBasket 2025 Saturday was explosive enough. Jorge Garbajosa, the president of FIBA Europe, and Kamil Novak, FIBA Europe executive director, addressed a range of topics in their end of tournament press conference.

Topics addressed included growing interest in Great Britain, the potential for more small federations to host, and the low attendances in the knockout rounds. Unsurprisingly, the biggest area of interest was the proposed NBA Europe.

Committed to making it happen

Jorge Garbajosa refused to commit to a timeline around NBA Europe, indeed he wasn’t happy to even answer questions about it. Garbajosa said he would rather focus on EuroBasket 2025 but he still stressed that the competition will happen and be good for basketball.

“It will only be positive. The NBA is probably the best partner or tool to promote basketball all over the world. It is not easy to create as big a competition as NBA Europe but this is going to happen, It will take a while. How and when? Let’s see,” said Garbajosa.

“We believe this competition will be good, not for FIBA or the NBA but for the basketball ecosystem in Europe. Believe me, this competition is going to happen.”

A WNBA Europe?

Next month, BallinEurope is going to launch a deep dive series into the concept of a WNBA Europe. With this in mind, I asked Jorge Garbajosa about where it was something that FIBA Europe had even considered.

“Women’s basketball is one of the main pillars of FIBA Europe. We are proud to say we have the best women’s club competition in the world, Euroleague Women. We changed the format and have locked in a multi-year host for the Final 6,” said Garbajosa.

“At the national competition level, we saw in my first competition as president [EuroBasket Women 2023] a final between Spain and Belgium with only around 1,000 spectators. The same final two years later in Athens, had 8,000 spectators. This showed the women’s basketball is growing in Europe,”

“We know the WNBA is also expanding. We would love to match both expansions. We created an expert group about women’s basketball to take decisions to shape the future.”

FIBA will help Britain but there are limits

Great Britain was the only country at EuroBasket 2025 without a domestic broadcast deal. There were also, outside of FIBA staff, no British journalists at the event. I asked Jorge Garbajosa about what can be done to change this and take advantage of the enormous British market.

“We are working closely with the British Basketball Federation. We know the situation is not the easiest there. We have created a taskforce and we are working on it,” Garbajosa said.

Nowak added that the potential of the UK market was obvious. “This is not a secret, everybody sees the potential. Obviously, the main work must be done on site. We are open and ready to support any positive plan. If there is a proper structure, this [GB] could very quickly be another basketball power. Our abilities are limited and the work initially must come from the UK.”

Kamil Novak addressed the challenges facing Great Britain amongst other matters at EuroBasket 2025.

Prickly stars

Despite some huge names participating at EuroBasket 2025, some of the biggest names refused to engage with the media in any capacity. Given FIBA Europe is reliant on these stars to drive interest, it was naturally a sticking point. Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo notably avoided engaging.

There were also issues with coaches refusing to speak with media members at designated times after practices. Kamil Nowak said there was action that FIBA Europe could take.

“We addressed it and saw it from the beginning. At some point, there is a sanctioning system which we would not wish to use. We hope that it won’t be necessary. The players have to understand that EuroBasket is not only for them to shine. They are also role models,” Nowak said.

“It’s extremely important for us, in cooperation with you [the media] to have their thoughts, their statements, and we are concerned. In the end I think we did manage to address it in the appropriate way and it improved.”

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FIBA hedges on ticket issue

Crowds for the round of 16 and quarter finals of EuroBasket 2025 were noticeably poor. Kamil Novak stressed the pricing strategy was the responsibility of the local organising committee (LOC) and not FIBA Europe.

“The ticket policy and pricing is the decision of the local organisers. It is something we have heard about and we will evaluate it. After an event there is an evaluation period. On the other hand, we have to understand this is EuroBasket,” Nowak said.

“We see superstars of not only European basketball but there are players here that are megastars in the NBA. If you go to a rock concert, the ticket is not €15, €20, or €25. Again, it is something we take seriously and we will evaluate but it is fully on the LOC side.”

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Cyprus gets special praise

Both Jorge Garbajosa and Kamil Nowak were full of praise for Cyprus and the job it did as a group host. The minnows were hosts for the first time and EuroBasket 2025 was also their first appearance at a major tournament.

“Obviously we need some hosts to be big basketball countries. There is always an opportunity for smaller federations who could have never previously been part of EuroBasket. We believe that this is a chance to grow for the smaller countries, we will now see what Cyprus will do,” said Nowak

Both Nowak and Garbajosa also cited that the off-court facilities, most notably the team hotel, were the best ever at any edition of EuroBasket.

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