Could The NBA London Game Grow Bournemouth Basketball?

Last week on the 18^th of January, the Memphis Grizzlies flew to London to face the also travelling Orlando Magic.

The Grizzlies swept up a win, with a star performance from Ja Morant who dropped 24 points and facilitated 13 assists for his teammates.

The franchises came to play a game in London in the NBA’s hope of far expanding eyes on their game well beyond the United States.

The NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, and the UK government have now come to an agreement to increase funding for basketball in the UK with a £5 million investment.

The game over in Bournemouth is already thriving, especially since the investments made across the country.

There are now various places to not only play pick-up ball in parks, but also in door courts for people to play the game recreationally.

Albeit, how have these sides progressed since their game in the England’s capital city?

The Grizzlies faced off last night against the Atlanta Hawks in a cagey fixture. Atlanta have recently lost their star player in Trae Young but were still able to overturn the Grizzlies.

Memphis lost by two points, 124-122, with Ja Morant once again leading his side in points and assists.

Whereas Orlando is yet to play since departing the UK, but the side will take on the Charlotte Hornets on Friday in the Kia Centre at home.

According to Statsscore.com, 11% of Americans state that basketball is their favourite sport, making it the nation’s second favourite sport only behind American Football.

Whereas, in the UK the sport doesn’t even crack the top ten in popularity according to statistics from Spond.com.

Football dominates the landscape over here, but what will it take for basketball to grow even

further?

Well, recently the NBA commissioner spoke to Good Morning America in which he stated, “something we have been discussing for a while is a European league expansion.”

He followed onto saying, “We think there’s an opportunity to have a great European expansion. We’ve already spoken to large soccer (football) teams to be a part of it.”

This expansion of the NBA would be huge for basketball in the UK, possibly lining us up for a Bournemouth basketball team in an official NBA expansion league.