NBA to London receives major boost ahead of mayoral elections
When it comes to the NBA product, it has garnered a strong reputation over the years with the continuous ascension of up-and-coming talents in the league. Interestingly, The Standard's Ross Lydall reported that mayor Sadiq Khan plans to bring NBA games back to London as part of his vision of bringing more sporting events to the country.
Additionally, Khan intends to transform London's reputation into the "undisputed sports capital of the world" by bringing in NBA basketball, Wrestlemania and even the NFL Super Bowl. He intends to immediately take action by bringing in more sporting events to the country if he is re-elected next week.
Interestingly, the last game played by the league in London was held in 2019 between the Washington Wizards and the New York Knicks. The Wizards defeated the Knicks 101-100 at the O2 Arena. It was the 91st game of the league in Europe, as mentioned by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.
Chicago Bulls center believes that an NBA-based London team is a good way to go for expansion
The league has already been public about its plans for further expansion but has not revealed the specific locations. As of now, there are 30 teams in the league and the demand for more expansion teams only continues to grow each day.
Interestingly, Chicago Bulls center Andre Drummond argued that the league should strongly consider looking into having an NBA team based in London, as per SportsMax.
"I think it's time to [expand]," Drummond said. "We should do it. Even London, because London is close enough. London is like an eight-hour flight. So London will probably be a good place to have a team. How far do soccer players travel for games? If they can do it, why can't we? Then we'll be able to shorten the season and then have no more 82 [campaigns]."
The two-time All-Star also compared how soccer players are able to travel to different games that weren't constricted to just one continent. He also raised an interesting point about the possibility of shortening the length of a regular season.
There have been some strong ongoing debates about the 82-game schedule and whether it is still sustainable by today's standards. This is due to the number of back-to-back games and the concerns with injuries ramping up due to the incredible pace of today's game.
If the league were to consider placing a team in London, not only would it further strengthen the league's reputation as a global brand but it would allow for more experimentation with how games play out over the course of a regular season.