The NBA's Brooklyn Nets beat the Atlanta Hawks 127-110 Thursday at London's O2 Arena, and NBA Deputy Commissioner & COO Adam Silver prior to the game said that the league has "plans in place to continue playing regular-season games in London." Silver said the league also "hopes to continue building our business in London and throughout Europe." Despite the Nets' goal of building an int'l brand, the "plan is to spread it throughout the league" so different teams will play overseas. Silver said establishing a franchise in London and other "major European cities" is something "we've talked about for years." However, if the NBA went to Europe, it would "be with a division rather than a single team for ease of logistics." Silver: "Part of understanding the opportunity is to play games like this and to measure the response and go from there." Meanwhile, NBA Commissioner David Stern said despite Olympic qualifying games possibly occurring during the season, the league "will not be interrupting the NBA season nor will we be releasing our players to go play because that would be impractical as a business matter." The league, though, will "try to be as supportive as possible within our business model of the changes that they're making" (NBA TV, 1/16).
