The English Premier League could think of nothing better to promote itself than to have Manchester United — the league’s most storied franchise — come to the United States this summer.
The NBA has taken a different approach to bolster the league’s European appeal. Commissioner David Stern announced Monday that the Toronto Raptors and New Jersey Nets will play two regular season games in London this season.
The Nets won 12 games last year and billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov‘s big offseason move was to grossly overpay Travis Outlaw.
While the Raptors, who didn’t make the playoffs last year, reacted to the loss of All-Star Chris Bosh by trading Hedo Turkoglu and adding Amir Johnson, Leandro Barbosa and Linas Kleiza.
So, two of the worst teams in the NBA were chosen to showcase the league.
This cast of no-namers will surely not inspire Europeans to pick up a basketball or tune into NBA games.
At least there is some foreign names that may resonate overseas. The Raptors’ roster consists of Spanish point guard Jose Calderon and Italians Andrea Bargnani and Marco Belinelli. And the trip to London is probably a little easier for the Nets’ new Russian owner.
The NBA has done an amazing job promoting basketball around the world as shown by Team USA’s recent lack of dominance in international play.
But the days of having the Dream Team display their superior talents on a global stage are gone. London will have to settle for Brook Lopez and Bargnani battling to stay out of the cellar of the Eastern Conference.
