Luka Doncic has officially announced his ownership of a professional basketball team set to be relocated to Rome, and the NBA world is taking notice. Rome was the first place outside of Slovenia where Luka Doncic played high-level basketball. The city’s basketball scene, once a pipeline for EuroLeague talent and a proving ground for international prospects, laid the foundation for Doncic to rise as a generational star. His career has transformed into becoming one of the most decorated international hoopers in the NBA.

So he’s now wanting to do the same for the city. His mission to revive basketball has officially begun. Doncic, along with former Dallas Mavericks executive Donnie Nelson and a group of investors, purchased Vanoli Cremona. It’s a team from the top Italian basketball league. They will be relocating the team to Rome. After months of anticipation, Luka Doncic finally made a public announcement. A video featuring a Roman statue holding a basketball with the words “Basketball is coming back to Rome.”

The project is generating a lot of buzz, including from one of the NBA’s most powerful owners. Jeanie Buss, the Lakers’ governor who previously served as the Los Angeles Lakers’ controlling owner and president until late 2025, when Mark Walter acquired majority control of the team, showed her enthusiastic support for Doncic’s initiative. “Love this!” she said about the announcement video.

Buss’s endorsement carries real weight: as a key stakeholder in the NBA’s boardroom conversations, her public backing of a Rome-based franchise signals that Doncic’s project may align closely with the league’s European expansion ambitions. Buss remains the Lakers’ governor for at least five years and continues to champion the NBA’s global growth strategy.

This project is particularly very close to Doncic’s heart. It’s not just having a team in Rome. Nelson was the person responsible for bringing Luka Doncic to Dallas. He traded draft picks to acquire the Slovenian, who had only EuroLeague clips as proof. Nelson recognized the generational stud underneath.

That same eye for international talent, built over decades of scouting players across Europe and beyond, is now being applied to building a club from the ground up.

Doncic gets to work on this dream project alongside the same person who showed faith in his gifts while others laughed. They’ll work together once more, hopefully to meet a greater purpose.

“For me, this is not just a simple financial investment. I want to build a club that can compete at the highest level, and that will mean something to Roma, because they deserve the best, and we are ready to give them that,” Doncic said about buying and relocating the team to Rome.

He added, “Rome is a special place for me. It was one of the first times I played serious basketball in front of an audience outside of Slovenia, and after that tournament, my career practically exploded. Returning to Rome, and in this role, is something I couldn’t have even dreamed of at the time. I feel like I’ve come full circle.”

At the same time, Luka Doncic will pray that Rome is among the capital cities selected for NBA Europe.

Luka Doncic wishes the NBA and EuroLeague would work together

Luka Doncic wouldn’t have the highlight tapes to catch Donnie Nelson’s eye without the EuroLeague. The EuroLeague remains one of the world’s premier basketball competitions, featuring clubs from across Europe competing at a level just below the NBA, and it is precisely the league Doncic dominated before making his leap to the US.

However, with NBA Europe in the works, there’s a chance it will directly compete with the international competition. Doncic, with ownership and team growth as a priority, will opt to have a team in NBA Europe.

Adam Silver has even spoken about possibly integrating the league with the NBA in the future once travel hassles are resolved.

If Luka Doncic can secure a spot for his team in NBA Europe, his mission to see Rome celebrating basketball again gets closer. Being part of the NBA means there’s a strong chance the team’s valuation skyrockets.

Furthermore, with Doncic as the owner, the team could draw top international talent to represent the club. The Lakers superstar would want what’s best for his team. But he also doesn’t want to be an indirect thorn for the EuroLeague.

He would want the NBA and the EuroLeague to have a healthy relationship, since both hold great significance for him.

“It would be best if they could find a common language and a way to cooperate. I spent great years in the Euroleague before going to America, and that competition shaped my game in every sense. So I hope that this cooperation will bring good to both of us,” said Doncic.

With NBA Europe still in its initial stages, Luka Doncic doesn’t have to worry about such major matters yet. His primary focus will be to establish his team in Rome and build a loyal fanbase. The purchase part of it is over. But there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done.