Key points from the Spanish official’s speech:

Regarding the statement by Motiejunas about NBA Europe causing “confusion”:
“I have a very cordial personal relationship with Paulius and I respect his opinion. Perhaps FIBA thought the same when the Euroleague was created in 2000. But we must be consistent: when we say we are in a free market, it is a free market for everyone. We cannot say your monopoly is invalid but mine is valid. There is also the issue of the sustainability of the clubs participating in the competition and the national leagues.
I am also concerned that we cannot have a Cinderella story in European basketball, like Leicester winning the Premier League and playing in the Champions League. Now there will be such an opportunity. If a team outside the franchises wins the Spanish league or the Italian league or the German league or the Turkish league, they will have the chance to play in this competition. At least 20-30% of the teams qualifying will do so based on sporting merit (performance criteria), and importantly, they will have a fair share of the revenue. It will be an open competition. I truly believe the greatest beneficiaries of this project will be the national leagues, because their potential will finally be exploited.”

On NBA Europe:
“You hear predictions about the end of European basketball, but in reality, what we have discussed is a more open competition than ever in Europe, with access for teams from the Basketball Champions League as well as national leagues. Moreover, the NBA guarantees respect for European sports principles — meritocracy, player availability, the refereeing model, etc., meaning our friends across the Atlantic understand European sports principles better than some people here. As the supreme authority in European and world basketball, FIBA ensures the common good for the sport and that is why we continue to invite everyone to the dialogue table, including the ECA. Our duty is to unite and find consensus, even though it is not always easy.”

On whether the Euroleague is not profitable:
“I do not know if the Euroleague is not profitable; what I do know is that the participating clubs cannot find balance. This comes from the financial data they publish.”

On Javier Tebas (La Liga President), who compared NBA Europe to the idea of a European Super League in football:
“I respect Javier and we discuss a lot, I learn many things from him, but I think here the opposite is happening. No matter how well you do in the Spanish league or the Italian league or the German league, you cannot secure a place in the Euroleague. With NBA Europe, you can. If you perform well in your national league, you have a way to qualify, directly or indirectly — time will tell. Right now, we have a closed league with 13 clubs making all decisions. What we want, and the NBA has said, is a league that respects the national teams’ calendar and respects the national leagues.”

On the overloaded schedule:
“Some continue to increase the number of games, while at FIBA we do exactly the opposite. We put players at the center of everything, we care about their health and welfare, and we have reduced the number of games required to win a gold medal at the World Cup, EuroBasket, or the Olympic Games.”

On the rise of women’s basketball:
“We changed the format of the Women’s EuroBasket, expanding from two to four hosts because the best way to promote it to a bigger audience is to allow more countries to host the event, we changed the Final Four to a Final Six in the Women’s EuroLeague, and modified the qualification system, because we believe in the product. This is not just because we support women, which of course we do, but because women’s basketball is a spectacular product in terms of entertainment, passion, and gameplay. We are just setting the stage for this great game to have a greater impact. At last summer’s Women’s EuroBasket, Greece was eliminated early, but thanks to the excellent work of the Greek federation of my friend Vangelis (Liolios), more than 7,000 fans attended the final between Spain and Belgium.”