NBA Sets Deadline for Euroleague Collaboration Deal

The clock is ticking on a landmark deal between the NBA and the Euroleague. According to leaks from the Euroleague owners' meeting in Cernobbio, reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport, the collaboration proposal on the table comes with a hard deadline: today, October 6, 2026.

Sources familiar with the negotiations say the offer would only stand if the Euroleague remains exactly as it is now — meaning the expansion project to 24 teams and the creation of franchises, being driven in parallel by CEO Chus Bueno, would have to be put on hold. Euroleague leadership reportedly arrived at the meeting believing there would always be room for further negotiation regardless of any deadline, a position that clashes directly with the NBA's stance.

The outcome could reshape professional basketball in Europe: a partnership with the NBA would bring enormous commercial and competitive implications, but swallowing the league's ambitious growth plans as a condition may prove a bitter pill for the owners gathered in Italy. With the deadline landing today, an answer — or a new standoff — is expected imminently.