On ESPN’s SVP and Russillo show Thursday afternoon, NBA Commissioner David Stern was asked whether he believes the league could expand over to Europe at some point in the future.

“I think so. I think multiple NBA international teams. Twenty years from now? For sure. In Europe. No place else. In other places I think you’ll see the NBA name on leagues and other places with marketing and basketball support, but not part of the NBA as we now know it.”

Commissioner Stern will step down from his position on February 1st, 2014. Heir apparent Mike Silver will then take over from there.

In an interview with the Boston Globe back in October, Stern discussed why having one standalone European franchise would not work in the grand scheme of things.

“I don’t think having a single team in Europe is practical. I never have. What I’ve said is if we’re going to have an NBA presence here in terms of the league, it should be five teams.”

In order for this plan to really work, a five-team European division consisting of teams playing in major markets and cities (Barcelona, London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid) would need to be instituted, rather than having the lone team which would make travel all the more cumbersome.

It’s an ambitious idea. I’ll give him that.

The NBA/Europe connection is nothing new. European clubs have been traveling over to the states in recent years to do battle with NBA squads in preseason contests and vice-versa. For example, the Boston Celtics opened up their preseason this year by traveling to Istanbul to take on Turkish basketball powerhouse Fenerbahce Ulker at Ulker Sports Arena.

In fact, one of Sterns shining achievements over his tenure as league commissioner is his marketing of the NBA product across the Atlantic.

However, even though the NBA product has never looked stronger than it does now overseas, does that make it plausible and even practical to integrate actual European club teams (or brand new franchises) into the current NBA system down the road?

Of course not.

Let’s just state the obvious right off the bat; it’s called the “National Basketball Assocation” and not the “International House of Basketball”.

I understand this newfound trend amongst all american pro leagues with bringing their respective games to new parts of the world, but at the end of the day, the United States have their game and Europe/China and the rest of the globe have theirs. I have no problem with having meaningless preseason games or showcases now and then when nothing is truly at stake, but it should begin and end with that.

It also doesn’t help matters that recent dives into expansion franchises have been mediocre at best. The Vancouver Grizzlies (created in 1995) lasted an entire six seasons before having to make the move to Memphis, Tennessee. The Charlotte Bobcats sit in the bottom third of the league in attendance numbers (currently rank 22nd, 25th in 2011-12) and the Toronto Raptors struggle to lure american-born players to come join their roster, even though the city is just across the border and widely considered to be “the poor mans New York City”.

Would NBA free-agents be motivated to sign with a team in London or Madrid, rather than cities like Miami, Los Angeles or Chicago?

I doubt it.

The travel concerns could become a problem, but when you look at how long a trip from New York to Los Angeles takes (six hours) and a trip from New York to London takes (roughly seven hours), I suppose the difference is miniscule.

What the NBA would need to do is set up weeklong road trips that consist of games against every team in this European division. There is no way teams would be willing to play one night in America and then make a one-night road trip to Europe on a back-to-back. That wouldn’t make any sense, and it probably wouldn’t be able to work time-wise anyways.

Racism is also a major issue. When you look at some soccer games overseas, there are those select fans who lash out at black athletes to either get under their skin, or just to be rude or ignorant. Those problems haven’t presented themselves in NBA preseason games just yet, but it wouldn’t shock me to see something along those lines occur if NBA action were to slowly integrate itself more into European culture, especially if this expansion were to (eventually) occur.

The NBA is the second-most globalized sport in the world, right behind soccer. It’s not crazy to envision the league evolving to house teams from other countries and continents.

20 years is a long time though. Heck, David Stern more than likely wouldn’t be alive to see the fruits of his labor if such an expansion existed.

Personally, I don’t ever seeing it happen, but that’s just me. The NBA can barely fill arenas as it is. Besides, who knows what the landscape of the league will look like so far down the road.

It’s all a big “what if” at the moment.

To me, it’s more like a “what the….?”.

Chris Walder is the Lead Editor for Sir Charles In Charge. You may follow him on Twitter at @WalderSports

Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

A matchup between the best team in the Eastern Conference and the best team in the Western Conference is (usually) considered to be must-see television for the league.

That statement becomes even more true when you have two rosters (the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs) that are just loaded with talent going head-to-head.

So just imagine how upset Commissioner David Stern got when he was informed that Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had sent four of his top players (Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green) home to rest instead of competing.

The Spurs were playing their sixth road game in nine nights. Popovich did what was best for the long-term success of his team by letting those four have the night off.

In April, NBA.com had reported that San Antonio was a pathetic 0-7 when their “Big Three” were held out of games. Those losses came with a combined average defeat of 15 points.

Without consulting with the Spurs first, Stern released a statement concerning the controversial move.

I apologize to all NBA fans. This was an unacceptable decision by the San Antonio Spurs and substantial sanctions will be forthcoming.

David Stern clearly has to look out for the best interest of the fans and the overall on-court product. With four of the Spurs top players being sent away and two other key parts (Kawhi Leonard and Stephen Jackson) nursing injuries, San Antonio was left with just nine healthy bodies who the casual NBA fan had probably never heard of until last night.

Did it ruin the game?

Not in the slightest.

The Spurs actually had a lead entering the fourth quarter, which included a seven point lead with 4:48 remaining and a five point lead with just 2:14 left in the game. The Heat eventually secured the win, 105-100.

What many had predicted to be a blowout victory for the defending NBA champions, turned out to be one of the more competitive and intriguing games of the year, especially considering the circumstances.

Sure, the fans in attendance probably didn’t pay their hard-earned money to see Matt Bonner light it up from downtown or Tiago Splitter dominate the pain, but despite that, what they all wound up with was two and a half hours of very entertaining basketball.

None of that matters to Commissioner Stern. It shouldn’t though.

Didn’t the Spurs do this last year as well? Listing Tim Duncan as “DNP-old” sounds very similar to this situation (and hysterical). Since it was a condensed 66-game season, perhaps Stern let it slide.

Now that we have a full slate of games, those shenanigans will not fly anymore.

There is no official rule in place that prevents NBA coaches from benching their key/star players just for the sake of getting rested up. Popovich didn’t violate any regulation that was set in place by the league or its higher-ups.

What he did do was cheese off a few thousand fans (or the few hundred who actually cared), as well as the leagues loyal sponsors who expected great things from this game.

It amuses me to see David Stern stick up for the fan base in such a noble way. I suppose he’s making up for all of the missed games and all of the pain caused due to last years Lockout.

He sure didn’t care about them then.

I also don’t see how this whole dilemma differs from when teams headed to the lottery at the end of every season bench their important players to “tank” games and possibly increase their chances of securing #1 picks.

That’s actually worse. The Spurs weren’t throwing in the towel, but those teams were.

Popovich and the Spurs organization are clearly going to see ramifications for this move. I don’t foresee any suspensions on the horizon, but a slap on the wrist financially seems more than likely.

It’s ultimately not going to mean anything.

It’s not as if Gregg didn’t have valid reasons. He’s a four-time NBA champion coaching this team.

He knows what he’s doing.

Sheesh.

Christopher Walder is the Lead Editor for Sir Charles in Charge. You can follow him on Twitter @WALDERSPORTS