Rumors

Bill Simmons on NBA Europe: I think this goes London, Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Paris, Berlin and a Greek team as your definite seven better in this. I think Adam Silver has those seven in his pocket and I don’t know who the Greek team is yet. Maybe you could add Tony Parker's French team. You could add the Istanbul team. You could add Manchester City. All sudden, I'm at 10. Maybe there's an Israeli team down the road. Maybe there's a third Spain team. Who knows? But they could take this right away. And if you look at the way the Euroleague is, where you basically have this ownership. It's called Euroleague Commercial Assets. That's the company that runs the League of voting rights on league rules, financials, TV deals, etc. And then there's a B license that that's a one year thing that you got to play your way in based on results, and then a C license that's like, basically a wild card. They could challenge this. They could offer the sponsorship expertise better, TV deals. They could shoehorn some of the TV stuff into their things. They could do the schedule so that it complements the NBA schedule correctly and I think this is going to be like, I honestly wouldn't be surprised that this was going in the 26-27 season.

Spotify

Bill Simmons: And what's really interesting about this, and I mentioned this a couple weeks ago that I felt like the NBA is drifting against expansion, which was a lock forever, until they got $76 billion from the media deal. Then suddenly, you know, the media money and the teams that, I mean, the owners don't need to give up the media money for expansion fees because they made so much. I think this is the apple of their eye right now, and I think that's why the reports are coming out this week. That's why Adam Silver is very publicly meeting with all these people, even though it's private, but it's not stuff's leaking out and and I think this is going to happen in a real way.

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Bill Simmons: So what's the NBA offering? Well, from what I've heard and from what's been reported, it's probably a 10 team league, but they could get away with eight. Maybe you grow it to 12. You get a guaranteed spot in the league. You get the voting rights, get better TV distribution, better sponsorship. You're not relegated. You don't to worry about, like, you know that I think there's 12 teams in the Euro league that are in there, but there's another six that you could get bounced out or if you don't have a good season, and there would be some sort of link to the NBA, which I think is the key here, their exhibition games, which I've already announced, A bunch of them, Manchester City, Paris, London. Maybe a tournament. And I've heard a couple different ideas for this, and I don't even know if they've decided on what they want to do yet, but you can have, maybe in October, you have the two best, three best NBA teams and the three best teams from this NBA early, they have little round robin. Maybe it's just champ versus champ Best of three. Maybe it's something. In February, with all the best teams, there's some sort of synergy thing. And it goes beyond just we're going to have some regular season games over there and some exhibition games, I think, big picture, 20 years from now. What does this look like? The leagues are probably a little more intertwined, not too intertwined, but a little intertwined.

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Bill Simmons: And what's cool about it, I remember watching a bunch of Luka Doncic games when he was playing over there as a 17 year old. I can't remember what team he was on [Real Madrid], and the quality play was good. The crowds were great, but it was FIBA, so the style of it was pretty neat, and it was a good enough product. It was just the players weren't quite good enough, it just definitely felt second class. I think if you can move that up, where it's somewhere between first class and second class, and then you could also be a place. This could be a place where you park some of your retiring players. It's like, Oh, your last year, you're going to play for this team. And maybe, you go there, maybe they change the rules, where you could get a little bit of an ownership stake. If you go over for here, they could do some things with this league that they can't do with the NBA. They could bend the rules and make a little more European.

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Zach Lowe: Why is there like no buzz about who's going to buy the Portland Trail Blazers? So I ask you, you have a lot of ownership sources. You're always good on this stuff. There's even people within the Blazers that I talked to are like ‘we haven't heard anything’. Like what's going on? This team is like allegedly in the beginning processes of being for sale. It's an NBA team. What's happening? Bill Simmons: I heard there's a guy and I heard it's going to go over four, those are the only two things I've heard. Lowe: Who's not going over three and a half or four at this point? Simmons: Well, but I think the the consensus is it's going to be in the mid-3s, but I think it goes over four, just because there's not a lot of teams available. It's Portland. It's maybe make a power play for New Orleans, over overpay for New Orleans, and then move them to Seattle, Vegas, and then other than that, unless unless the Reinsdorfs shock everybody and just sell the team for seven billion.

YouTube

Bill Simmons: I look at a situation like New Orleans. I don't know what that team is worth in its current state. I don't know what it's worth with that. Like playing in the Smoothie King, playing in a market that clearly has not responded to basketball in the same way these other markets. And it's like if somebody bought them and just moved them to Seattle and paid everybody relocation fees and then you didn't have to split your media rights, that seems like where this is headed. And I think there’s… I'm just gonna say it: I think there's some buzz starting that way that this New Orleans thing maybe is the situation.

YouTube

Bill Simmons: I don't mean to start panic on New Orleans basketball. I'm also not sure there's enough of a fan base in place to even care that much. But um that lease at the Smoothie King lease expires I think in 2029. This is an experiment that has not worked for 50-plus years in New Orleans with professional basketball. And if like if you and I owned a team and they asked us what we thought and I like well we definitely have enough players to go to 32 teams that doesn't mean we should. We're making so much money from the media rights. I'm not even sure what you could give me back that would make it worth it.

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Kendrick Perkins: But yeah, I just had to come on here and address Bill Simmons. Bro—just chill. I get that you’re bitter. But that relationship with you and ESPN? That [__] happened ten years ago, bro. It’s like an ex that just won’t give up—you keep riding by the house every day, and then you send a message saying: ‘Hey, your yard’s not cut.’ Sheesh. That’s not your business anymore. You developed your own platform—The Ringer. You sold it. Good move, man. You did some great things. So move the [__] on. But most importantly—leave me the [__] alone. I don’t bother nobody. I don’t bother you. And I strongly believe—yeah, you’re qualified. I like what you got going on over there. I love Zach Lowe. He’s a good friend of mine. He can speak his opinion. Y’all can voice your opinions. But what y’all not going to do—is gatekeep. It’s gatekeeping. We ain’t doing that.

YouTube

In the longer, updated retort, Perkins argued Simmons gave his thoughts on the draft coverage because he was simply “bitter” over his departure from ESPN in 2015. “My problem with you is who the f*ck gave you the keys and said you was the gatekeeper for the game of basketball?” Perkins said, addressing Simmons directly. “Just because people don’t speak the way that you don’t want them to speak, doesn’t make it wrong. Just because ESPN don’t cover it the way you would like them to cover the game of basketball or the tweets you would like them to make, don’t make it f*cking wrong. And it’s crazy because, Bill, y’all separated a decade ago. I’m talking about you and ESPN. And you’re coming off bitter, my guy.”

Awful Announcing

“Let’s not act like you haven’t said some asinine things about the game of basketball, especially when it comes down to the WNBA. Saying that women should play pregnant, man are you out of your damn mind?” Perkins said. “You say some absurd things at times. But guess what, Bill? Nobody cares. Nobody is covering you and policing you to speak on the game the way it needs to be spoken on, brother.”

Awful Announcing

The former NBA journeyman center growled that Simmons “always got my name in his mouth” before accusing The Sports Guy of having takes infused with alcohol and jealousy. “I don’t know who anointed you the preacher or king or head honcho, overseeing basketball and the way things need to be,” Perkins said in a video on X. “What have you done? What have you done, period, in the game of basketball? Have you ever played?”

Awful Announcing

While Perkins promised more of a response Sunday on a solo edition of his Road Trippin’ podcast once he finished “doing my research,” he felt he needed to react instantaneously because Simmons was being high and mighty. “It’s kind of pissing me off because you feel like you’re sitting on this throne,” Perkins said. “You got in your feelings.” If Perkins is genuinely asking what Simmons has done, both in his career and for “the game of basketball,” he is sure to get find out during his research. For one, Simmons occupied the exact same analyst role as Perkins for multiple years, covering the NBA Draft for ESPN. Simmons also appeared as a panelist on NBA Countdown —just like Perkins — for two seasons. Simmons also wrote The Book of Basketball, covering the history of the NBA. That book is revered by many in the basketball media, not to mention also by 2025 draft pick Kon Knueppel.

Awful Announcing

Perkins even went so far as to suggest that Simmons had downed a few beers before he dared to knock a draft broadcast that is largely disliked. “Man, shut up. You didn’t think before you started drinking them Heinekens,” Perkins said. “And then you got your little peanut gallery on the podcast who just agree with you … man, shut the hell up. The hell you done? I’m gonna get more on your *ss come Sunday, believe that. I’m gonna finish doing my research on you. Enough is enough.”

Awful Announcing

Bill Simmons: I’m honored that you sat in a car for 2+ minutes to scold me on your iPhone like this, even though we are a combined age of like 92. If you actually think Toronto will be top-6 in the East in anything other than “most fun place to visit” — let’s wager on it ASAP.

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