The timeline has slipped, but the ambition has not. NBA Europe, originally pencilled in for 2027, will now tip off in 2028, with a pre-qualifying tournament next year deciding which four clubs join 12 permanent franchises in a 16-team league. Behind the delay sits a number that explains everything: $10bn, the sum the NBA is prepared to spend over the next decade on what insiders are calling the biggest startup in the history of sport. Money is already talking louder than the schedule.

Bids for the 12 permanent slots have reportedly blown past internal targets, with the London franchise alone expected to fetch somewhere between $500m and over $1bn. The list of suitors reads like a who's who of global finance and football: former Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly, a group led by ex-Tottenham chief Daniel Levy with MSP Sports Capital, and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund have all circled London, while interest in Manchester has come from Buss Sports Capital, the firm that recently sold its stake in the Los Angeles Lakers. What makes this a genuinely transatlantic story is who else is at the table. NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum has been meeting executives from Barcelona, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and Milan, suggesting Champions League royalty may soon own basketball teams too.

Rome, Athens, Istanbul, Lyon and Manchester complete the permanent roster alongside London, with four more cities to qualify from Europe's existing basketball pyramid. "We've got existing basketball clubs in the ecosystem that have submitted bids and we have football clubs, some that have their own basketball teams today, and some that don't and want to get involved in basketball," Tatum told last week's European Football Clubs assembly. The league hopes to name owners before year's end, even as the court itself stays empty for two more seasons.