Question - London and NBA

[sporty7]

Does anyone think that a fully fit London Lions team could put up a good fight against an NBA team ?

[reallyoldfeenixfan2]

No.

[keithkr]

Would be a big ask from what I have seen

[dexter]

I don't think so. Just as London Lions would be soundly beaten in Euroleague. London are currently a level below that.

[spacejammer]

NBA G League yes I reckon London could put up a good fight against them but most likely lose.
But against an actual NBA team especially one stacked with stars. Hell no.

Although I did read an article the other week that suggested London to have its own actual NBA franchise when discussing cities that should have an NBA expansion team.
And even that I could never see takeoff.

[dandayr]

No

[reallyoldfeenixfan2]

Nov 25, 2023 17:20:17 GMT dandayr said:

No

Couldn't you have just cut/ paste my answer?

[dandayr]

Nov 25, 2023 17:23:24 GMT reallyoldfeenixfan2 said:

Nov 25, 2023 17:20:17 GMT dandayr said:

No

Couldn't you have just cut/ paste my answer?

I did - but then decided to before I posted to edit out your full stop

[SamH]

Occasionally in the pre-season you get a team from outside the US beat an nba team, but these are teams better than Lions. And nba teams do not go all out in pre-season, often resting key players or limiting minutes. They're not interested in the win or loss, but trying things to see what works. And still normally win by wide margin.

London v a trying nba team would be like an NBL team v a trying London. Messy.

[irf]

I personally think a London NBA franchise could work though

There are always enough tourists from all over the world in London at any one time to buy tickets for that on top of any ongoing fanbase they could create

Would be a big night out in London whenever they played

[SamH]

Its been talked about for years but I'd have thought it makes more sense logistically to look at Mexico or another in Canada than London. Long way to go for a road trip and presumably the London team would have to spend weeks on the road at a time rather than going back and forth, which the players won't like.

But first they need to get Seattle back and maybe Vegas!

[spacejammer]

Nov 27, 2023 16:26:30 GMT irf said:

I personally think a London NBA franchise could work though

There are always enough tourists from all over the world in London at any one time to buy tickets for that on top of any ongoing fanbase they could create

Would be a big night out in London whenever they played

Nah I would disagree I think it would do a disservice to the BBL if they had an NBA team over here and given how football mad we are as a country I cannot see it catching on.

What I would welcome is the BBL trying to make more links between the BBL and the NBA.

Such as opening academies youth academies to try and recruit more British talent to the NBA and I would certainly love to see the return of the NBA global games the UK.

I know they seem to be more focused on Paris and Saudi Arabia these days.
But given the amount of teams and matches in the NBA I'm suprised they gave up on London and the UK as I don't see it hurting to showcase 1 extra game over here.

The only way I would welcome an NBA franchise to the UK would be if you created an NBA European league but then essentially isn't that what the European leagues are supposed to be now in a way?

[dexter]

I can't even begin to understand how that could work. One NBA player gets paid more than London Lions's entire budget. The Copper Box is way too small and presumably the O2 and Wembley Arena are in almost constant use so a new arena would need to be built. And I can't think why any players would want to play for a London team with all the extra air miles, crossing time zones.

London is however a great place for one off sporting events, so an NBA game and an NHL game would be welcome additions to the London annual sporting calendar.

[spacejammer]

Nov 27, 2023 18:55:41 GMT dexter said:

I can't even begin to understand how that could work. One NBA player gets paid more than London Lions's entire budget. The Copper Box is way too small and presumably the O2 and Wembley Arena are in almost constant use so a new arena would need to be built. And I can't think why any players would want to play for a London team with all the extra air miles, crossing time zones.

London is however a great place for one off sporting events, so an NBA game and an NHL game would be welcome additions to the London annual sporting calendar.

Exactly!
Hit the nail on the head there.

[LTfan]

Lets be honest, the NBA has basically lost interest in even staging just one game in London (or the UK) each season, so the idea of having a London based NBA franchise right now is laughable.
I could see it happening in the NFL before it happens in the NBA, and even though spoken about for years the NFL hasn’t done anything remotely towards making this a reality. What the NFL has done, which is perhaps more sensible for the NBA too, is take an existing franchise - the Jacksonville Jaguars, and getting them to commit to playing a minimum of x games a season for x years in London. So that team sort of becomes ‘London’s team’ (as well as Jacksonville’s). But even that has it’s complications – firstly getting an existing franchise to committing to that, and secondly getting London or UK fans to basically abandon the teams they’ve supported for years in favour of this new ‘London team’ is a big ask.

On another note, back when the NBA did regularly play a London game I do remember being disappointed reading that they basically blocked the BBL for being anywhere near the event, so absolutely no opportunity for the BBL to promote itself around these events.

[ScottishBasketballFan]

If anyone thinks that a BBL team who has bought their way to success is beating an NBA team then they are clearly deluded

[sporty7]

Well I raised this question as I do not know a lot about bball. I have enough replies to get my answer.