In this video, NBA and EuroLeague champion Elijah Bryant shares his personal perspective on the NBA’s planned expansion into Europe. He explains that the NBA and FIBA are holding meetings with investors and potential clubs to create a new league that will feature a mix of permanent franchises and merit‑based teams that could be relegated to a Champions League‑style competition. Bryant highlights the deep cultural roots of European basketball fans, describing their loyalty as almost religious compared to the more casual NBA fan base. He cites the growing pipeline of European talent to the NBA (Giannis, Jokic, Luka) as a logical driver for the expansion. A clip of Tony Parker is included, urging the NBA to preserve the "DNA" of European basketball while borrowing NBA strengths in entertainment and marketing. Bryant contrasts EuroLeague’s tactical diversity and game‑by‑game importance with the NBA’s entertainment‑focused model, arguing that a hybrid could be beneficial. The latter part of the video shifts to a live‑style game commentary of Hapoel’s EuroLeague matchup against Žalgiris, where Bryant reflects on his own performance, the team’s rebounding deficit, and lessons learned. He ends by asking viewers whether the NBA’s move will help or hurt European players and markets, inviting discussion.
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NBA is coming to Europe and everyone wants to know what does that mean for European basketball? Yes, I know you have a lot of questions. There's a lot of friction in this room not wanting me to be great, but at the end of the day, you got to control what you're going to control, and that's all I can do. So personally, I've played in both ecosystems.
Shot clock winding down. Bryant feeling it. He's cooking. Elijah Bryant from downtown. The Bucks go in front by one.
Obviously have a lot more experience in EuroLeague, but I understand the NBA framework, and I want to give you my personal thoughts on exactly what an NBA champion professional basketball player thinks of it. First, these aren't necessarily rumors anymore. The NBA and FIBA came out and basically said they're moving forward and they're going to start taking meetings on deciding who's going to be involved in the league. Like I said, they've talked to investors, talking to potential teams, and this is going to be a league where there's going to be some permanent teams. They're and there's going to be some merit-based teams where you have to meet certain qualifications in order to stay in the league, or you drop down to Champions League. But from a professional basketball player, this makes total sense considering some of your top talent in the NBA is from Europe. Giannis from Greece, Jokic from Serbia, Luka from Slovenia— most of the talent, emerging talent, is coming from Europe. So why wouldn't you tap into that? European basketball is a little bit different than the NBA concept because these teams have history. Their great-great-great-grandparents parent was a Red Star fan or a Fenerbahçe fan or a Panathinaikos fan. So it's not a 9-to-5 fan who just shows up to see LeBron James or Giannis. It's a religion fan. This is a religion for them, and it's not something that is easy to get them to switch teams if their favorite player leaves. They are born into a team and they grow up loving that team, whether it's Maccabi, whether it's Hapoel Tel Aviv, whether it's Anadolu Efes, whether it's Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray. You grow up with that team and you are loyal to that team. I've seen a bunch of clips about legends talking about the situation, even Tony Parker.
I want to say I'm super excited that the NBA is coming to Europe. I think my advice to the NBA, and I already talked to Adam and Mark, is to keep the DNA of European basketball. And I did the same thing when I bought my French team, you know. Yes, there's some stuff you want to bring from the NBA because they're the best at entertainment and marketing and stuff like that, but there's some stuff in Europe we're great too. So I think it's good to find a happy middle and make sure you keep the DNA, you don't do exactly the same like the NBA.
Tony Parker basically said that if everyone can work together, it would be a great solution for European basketball. We've seen this happen before with LIV Golf and PGA Tour, where two competitions are competing and eventually they merge together.
Who are merging to form a new commercial entity?
We'll talk a little bit more about this when we get in the car. So EuroLeague has an overall best ball product. I'm not talking about just the fans. It's better tactics. Every game matters. Fans are actually engaged in the game, and it's not just a team based on analytics running up and down the court shooting threes and layups. There's actually some strategy to the game, and not everyone copies the same exact format. The Warriors won a lot, so everyone thought threes are the best way to do it. No, everyone has a different tactic for each team they're playing and each game plan. The second key point is you have to be honest about this. The NBA is an entertainment business and it knows how to put on a show. Media, storylines, players, all of that. And to bring that to Europe, I think that would help grow the European market more. So when I hear NBA Europe, I don't automatically think bad. I think best of both worlds. I think the on-court presentation in terms of players, atmosphere, culture with EuroLeague, and then with storytelling, presentation, media with NBA can combine and create something really, really special.
We'll talk about this after shootaround.
I'm showing you guys the, the real raw, you see, mess. I'm eating my freaking pregame meal on the bed, but the only thing you can control, you can control. We talked about it earlier, that's all you can do. And I didn't mention, today we play Zalgiris for our first game in Israel at home, first EuroLeague game for the club. So it's a big day. So when it comes to Zalgiris, this is a very talented team. Francisco, Lo, Nigel Williams-Goss, Moses Wright, a lot of players that have a lot of experience and also a lot of talent. The head of the snake is Francisco.
Here's a mismatch now. Francisco, step back, in it goes, they'll win it. Game over! Wunderbar!
I even played against Nigel Williams-Goss in college when he played at Gonzaga. I played at BYU. But in terms of what they do, a lot of 77 double drag high, as well as a lot of Spanish pick and roll back screen. Obviously, I showed you clips of, of them before. And you can see clips right now. Let's get focused on the game. Let's go.
It is the team playing their first ever EuroLeague game in their home city. They have, well, grabbed 2 offensive rebounds in the first 2 minutes, but they fight back in the blink of an eye. Masulis is saying is that that should have been a goal taker. But in 3, Elijah Bryant, in behind, the hesitation, puts it in. Got 12 now. Elijah Bryant hits 14. Coming in the fourth, Elijah Bryant mid-range. Bryant will answer. They have flipped the script in a huge way, and Gelgaris will win by 13 on the road at the league leaders. Just the third road team to win against Hapoel all season.
Well, that didn't go as planned. Kind of like life though, I feel like sometimes that's life. Day 12 in the hotel with 20 bags first game in Israel, just a lot of moving parts going on. My first time driving to a game in 4 years. As you guys know, we usually stay at the hotel, drive as a team to the thing. So there's a lot of moving parts and stuff that— it's not an excuse, but it's just things that I'm able to recognize I have to develop new systems for. As far as the game, I mean, getting out-rebounded 41-20 is— you're never gonna win a game like that regardless of how many points you score what you do. Like, they just out-hustled us, like, straight up. They had a great game plan. That coach has been coached under Sadas and Finner and Switch. Force you to play ISO, try to find the mismatch, make you stagnant. Great game plan. Um, now when it comes to two things I did well, one thing I can do better, I think I did well trying to stay locked into the game even though I felt like I wasn't— had no rhythm until the fourth quarter when I had the ball more in my hands. Um, I think I continue to match my emotions to my desired reality throughout the game regardless of the refs Regardless of shots not going in the score, one thing I did well is being assertive until the end. It sucks to lose always, but in every loss there's a lesson. And I already watched the game. I watched the game last night. There's a lot of things that you could take away and you just feel better after watching it and you watch it or you watch it and then you watch it. Now, what do you guys think about NBA coming to Europe? Is it something that's going to be good for the European players in the European market or it's going to be bad? And as always, say Plus consistency.
