What LeBron James and Maverick Carter are helping to spark with a $5 billion-backed international touring basketball league isn’t just an exciting new entertainment property. It’s a strategic masterstroke. It’s also a bold redirection of power in sports that feels long overdue. And while the NBA has made strides internationally, this move shows just how much further the game can go, and why the NBA may be arriving late to its own global party.
The NBA has always had the swagger, the stars, and the storyline. But it’s been slow to evolve from being a domestic league with international ambitions to a truly global operation. Sure, they play a few games in Paris or Abu Dhabi, run some clinics overseas, and sign talent from Serbia to Senegal. But let’s be honest: the NBA’s model is still rooted in a 41-home-game season in Milwaukee or Memphis—not Manila or Madrid.
Contrast that with the proposed touring league, which feels like it’s been pulled from the Formula 1 or LIV Golf playbook. This model isn’t about one city’s team—it’s about movement, momentum, and magnetic energy. Games in global hubs and equity for players. It’s fast, fluid, and disruptive. Think NBA 3.0—built not for the cities, but for the stage.
Back in 2005 and again through the 2010s, I wrote often about the shift from the legacy to the new—the importance of adapting before you’re made irrelevant. From telecom to tech, it was always the same: either disrupt yourself, or someone else will. The NBA has had first-mover advantage on basketball’s global stage for decades. But like many incumbents, it has been slow to adapt.
This new league changes the power dynamic. It isn’t about chasing a ring—it’s about owning a stake. And that’s what’s different. Player equity, cross-gender play, and international reach turn athletes into partners, not just performers. The NBA has built an empire, but this league proposes a republic—where talent helps govern the game.
Let’s be clear: this isn’t just a league, it’s a platform. With the backing of sovereign wealth funds and star power from Day One, this initiative has the right fuel. And with Web3, VR, and global streaming, the fan experience could leapfrog what the NBA offers today.
If the NBA is smart, it’ll pivot fast—maybe partner, maybe adapt. If it doesn’t? Well, like we saw in telecom and media, the disruptors don’t always knock—they build their own door.
And sometimes, they bring the whole arena with them.