Stern's NBA Expansion

Recently, NBA Commissioner David Stern (Jewish and a Sammy) announced that he envisions an NBA expansion. Now certain cities might be excited to hear the news. Maybe a return to Seattle? Maybe a 3rd LA team? Maybe in a big city that has never had a team like Las Vegas? But Stern was not discussing US expansion, rather he wants to take the NBA to Europe.

This announcement came up at a press conference Taiwanese capital of Taipe before an exhibition game between the Denver Nuggest and the Indiana Pacers. While there is no timetable for such an expansion Stern made it clear that with the development of basketball in European cities the NBA sees an overseas expansion.

If the NBA expands to Europe expect the NBA as we know it to look very different. Imagine if your favorite player got traded to Europe. How weird would it be watching games at weird hours of the night just to see him play? Like a Derrick Rose crossover taking place at 2am in London. Of course the clothing would be awesome (imagine Deron Williams in a Jerusalem jersey).

There would also be a large impact on the players themselves. Now, if a player gets traded to Orlando he can move his family pretty easily, but it wouldn't be so easy shipping out to Paris.

So we will have to wait and see what happens. Maybe trades will be regulated or maybe rules will be different (larger lane, longer shot clock, etc), but ultimately I personally would be for it if one of the new teams landed in Israel. The Jerusalem Juggernauts? The Tel Aviv Titans? The Haifa Hurricanes? That would be awesome.

And Let Us Say..Amen.
-Jeremy Fine

Photo by: Cody Mulcahy