The NBA’s ambitious push into Europe is already creating tension with its own players.
NBPA executive director David Kelly says NBA players have a “very serious problem” with the current expectation that they would not share financially in revenue generated by NBA Europe, arguing that the proposed competition is being built in large part on the value created by generations of NBA talent.
“It’s clearly being built on the backs of current NBA players, and prior NBA players, on the whole cachet that they brought to this league. And then to start a rival league that they do not participate in, participate in the economics of, we have a very serious problem with that,” Kelly told Front Office Sports.
At the heart of the disagreement is a basic economic question: if the NBA uses its brand, reputation and commercial power to establish a major new basketball property overseas, should current NBA players participate in the financial upside even if they are not the athletes playing in that competition?
Kelly believes they should.
Under the NBA’s current collective bargaining agreement, players receive roughly half of defined Basketball Related Income generated by the existing league. Kelly is not arguing that NBA players should automatically receive the same percentage of NBA Europe revenue, but he told Front Office Sports that there should be some form of good-faith economic participation because the new venture is still basketball business created under the NBA umbrella.
That distinction could become increasingly important as NBA Europe moves from concept toward reality. The project is designed to expand the NBA’s commercial footprint on the continent through a new competition involving European markets, potentially creating additional revenue from media rights, sponsorships, ticket sales and franchise-related opportunities.
From the union’s perspective, however, the NBA brand being monetized in Europe did not emerge independently. Its global value was built through decades of star players – from previous generations to the league’s current superstars – whose performances helped transform the NBA into an international entertainment property.
Kelly’s argument therefore extends beyond whether current NBA players physically appear in NBA Europe games. The NBPA appears to view the underlying brand equity itself as something players helped create and should not be excluded from monetizing.
The issue also has the potential to become a significant collective-bargaining topic. The current NBA CBA runs through June 30, 2030, although either side can opt out in October 2028 and end the agreement following the 2028-29 season. If NBA Europe begins generating meaningful revenue before the next labor negotiations, determining where that money sits within the league’s economic structure could become a major point of contention.
Kelly, who became NBPA executive director earlier this month after succeeding Andre Iguodala, is therefore signaling early that the union does not intend to treat NBA Europe as an entirely separate business simply because its games would be played outside North America.
The dispute is still at an early stage, and there is no indication that it threatens the launch of NBA Europe. But it reveals a potentially consequential question surrounding the league’s global expansion.
