Real Madrid boss wants his team to play in the NBA

The Boston Celtics are due to visit the basketball side of Real Madrid for an exhibition game next month, and the president of the Spanish sporting powerhouse has some business to discuss with NBA commissioner Adam Silver during the league's visit.

"I would love for Real Madrid to play in the NBA," Real's president Florentino Perez told Spanish radio network SER, translated by theScore's Carlo Campo. "The commissioner is coming over and I'll try to talk about it with him."

Silver said last January that it was the NBA's "manifest destiny" to ultimately expand to Europe, and suggested it would require a division of at least four teams on the continent. However, the idea of an established European entity such as Real joining the NBA hasn't been widely discussed.

A division of the legendary Real Madrid football club, the basketball team has won 32 Spanish championships and nine Euroleague titles. Many European stars, including Hall of Famers Drazen Petrovic and Arvydas Sabonis, played for Real Madrid Baloncesto before moving on to NBA success.

Expanding the footprint of North American professional sports leagues into Europe has been a topic of discussion for decades. The NFL is eyeing London as a location for a potential team; Silver conceded in January that his league has lagged behind the NFL in the race to reach Europe first.

There are major logistical issues to overcome, however. Beyond extended travel and television timing issues, some have suggested many U.S.-born players would balk at playing overseas. A future advantage for the NBA may lie in the fact that 55 European players were on league rosters at the start of last season, a number that is expected to grow given basketball's popularity on the continent.