A high-profile meeting in France last week involving LeBron James, his longtime business partner Maverick Carter, and Nikola Jokić’s agent Miško Ražnatović has sparked global intrigue after reports revealed discussions centered on launching a $5 billion international basketball league.
According to Front Office Sports, Carter is spearheading the ambitious project, which would feature 12 teams—six men’s and six women’s—traveling across eight global cities in a touring format. The model draws inspiration from LIV Golf’s disruptive entry into the sport and Formula One’s globe-trotting schedule. A defining feature of the new league would be offering players equity stakes in their teams: something current NBA rules forbid for active athletes.
Ražnatović added fuel to speculation by posting a photo from the Saint-Tropez meeting with James and Carter on Instagram. His caption read: “The summer of 2025 is the perfect time to make big plans for the fall of 2026.” While some fans speculated about a possible James-Jokić collaboration in the NBA, sources confirmed the discussions were strictly about the new venture.
Carter has been pitching the idea since earlier this year. Bloomberg reported in January that he is targeting $5 billion in funding, with backing already secured from major global investors, including the Singapore government, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, SC Holdings, UBS, Skype co-founder Geoff Prentice, and former Facebook executive Grady Burnett.
Unlike women’s league ventures such as Unrivaled, which allows players to participate alongside their WNBA commitments, Carter’s league is expected to require exclusive participation. That stipulation would likely prevent NBA players from joining unless the league revises its rules around equity ownership and offseason play.
Meanwhile, the NBA is pursuing its own expansion into Europe. Commissioner Adam Silver and deputy commissioner Mark Tatum met with UK prime minister Keir Starmer in London last week to discuss the creation of a Europe-based league in partnership with Fiba. To strengthen that initiative, the NBA also announced that the Orlando Magic and Memphis Grizzlies will play regular-season games in Berlin and London in January 2026.
The EuroLeague, however, has been vocal in its opposition. CEO Paulius Motiejūnas told The Athletic on Tuesday: “We said to them, like we said publicly, we don’t believe that the new league is something that would help the market.”
With two competing visions for basketball’s global future—Carter’s player-empowered model and the NBA’s Europe-focused expansion—the stage is set for a transformative battle over the sport’s next frontier.
