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Eurohoops: 🇺🇸✍️ Dwayne Bacon officially joins Dubai and makes his return to the EuroLeague! pic.x.com/KrTGAXe18L
🇺🇸✍️ Dwayne Bacon officially joins Dubai and makes his return to the EuroLeague! pic.twitter.com/KrTGAXe18L
— Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) July 16, 2025
Dionysis Aravantinos: Dubai this offseason: Dzanan Musa ✍🏻 2028 Dwayne Bacon ✍🏻 2028 Aleksa Avramovic ✍🏻 2028 Mam Jaiteh ✍🏻 2027 McKinley Wright ✍🏻 2027 Kenan Kemenjas ✍🏻 2027 Making moves ahead of their first EuroLeague season.
Which city, anywhere in the world, should the NBA pick for expansion? Las Vegas: 8 Seattle: 4 Paris: 4 Mexico City, London, Nashville, Dubai, Saint-Tropez: 1 Powell: “I live there, so if Vegas got a team, I’d be the first one to apply.” Garland: “Nashville, because I live there. How about we move Memphis to Nashville, put a team in Vegas, a team in Paris, a team in Dubai and a team in Saint-Tropez?”
The US league has held pre-season games in Abu Dhabi since 2022, and the annual NBA Cup, which started last week, is now sponsored by Dubai airline Emirates. "These games are part of the Emirati government's efforts to distract from the many human rights violations it is committing at home and abroad," HRW said in a statement.
To mark the occasion, the NBA Cup trophy made its way from Dubai to New York on an Airbus A380 sporting the new NBA-themed livery, which features a bright blue fuselage, red engine cowlings, and various basketball-themed designs. Fun for passengers extends far beyond just the livery. On this particular flight, passengers were able to sample a basketball-themed menu and receive commemorative memorabilia ranging from aircraft models to NBA luggage tags, photo frames, and more.
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"This is a big project for the future. It is a dream for Dubai to play in the EuroLeague during the next two or three years. I wanted to be there already in the first year so that it would forever be recorded that Davis Bertans was among the first eight [signings] of Dubai," Bertans said in an interview with Nikola Stojkovic from Mozzart Sport. "I also got a contract for three years, which was very important for my family, so that I don't have to move every year," he explained.
Earlier this year, the NBA signed a massive sponsorship deal with Emirates Airline, based less than 100 miles down highway E11 in Dubai. The NBA Cup, the in-season tournament, will carry the brand's name. It's part of a broader investment in pro basketball from the ruling family of Dubai, including the recent purchase of a EuroLeague team that could eventually play its home games in the UAE. Last year, the Qatar Investment Authority became the first sovereign wealth fund to buy into an NBA team when it purchased roughly 5% of the Washington Wizards' parent company. Experience Abu Dhabi, the Department of Culture and Tourism's marketing wing, already has a multiyear sponsorship deal in place with the Celtics and has been in discussions to become the jersey patch sponsor for the New York Knicks, sources said.
Davis Bertans no longer expected to work out for Warriors
Marc Stein: Update: NBA veteran Dāvis Bertāns is no longer expected to audition this month for Golden State after receiving a multiyear offer to play in Dubai that is said to include “out” conditions that do allow for a down-the-road return to the league. More NBA: marcstein.substack.com
Regarding the financial situation of the Euroleague clubs, the 63-year-old declared that the current sponsorship system is not sustainable in the long run. "We would have liked to reduce the owners' contributions over the years because it is not sustainable to generate [such] losses and for a person or a company to cover them," argued the Spanish executive. In the last weeks, there have been many reports about a new franchise in Dubai. However, Bertomeu believes many things must be resolved first. "It could be a project that raises a question from the point of view of principles, but firstly many logistical and different other issues will have to be resolved. I don't know if it will come to this," he said.
Euroleague Basketball has yet to announce the host of the season-ending Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four but Kaunas is currently the only candidate, as confirmed by Eurohoops sources. Despite rumors, the next EuroLeague champion will not be crowned in Dubai. The other candidate to host the 2023 Final Four had the looks of a stretch from day one. The top-tier club continental competition of Europe expanding with a team based in the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates would be the first step and the next, including a potential Final Four in Dubai, to follow.
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Dubai is emerging as a serious candidate to host the upcoming EuroLeague Final Four, sources say BasketNews. Dubai was foreseen as a potential future Final Four host, but as BasketNews sources indicate, there is a high possibility that the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates will greet the four best EuroLeague teams in the 2022-23 season.
Once more it was proven that the level of basketball played outside the NBA is not that different than the top league in the world and while the NBA has its own agenda, EuroLeague has also its own options of extending outside the European borders. The talks had started in last season’s Final Four not only with Dubai as potential investors but also with the Australian NBL for some kind of collaboration, starting with pre-season games. Former EuroLeague Champions David Andersen was among the representatives from Australia that came for talks in Serbia, while Dubai also had its own presence.
Per Eurohoops sources, the club scenario should be considered at best a 50%-50% chance at this point, however, next week on the 11th of October a meeting between the Dubai officials and the shareholders of the EuroLeague will be held, which can pave the way for this collaboration.
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