Plans for NBA in Europe hit snags

If Adam Silver LONDON — learned one thing from his latest trip to London, it’s that the appetite for more NBA games remains huge around Europe and the

— rest of the world.

And while the league commissioner would love to satisfy that appetite, there is still an Atlantic-sized gap between the NBA’s desire for overseas expansion and what’s actually doable.

So while the NFL continues to stage multiple regular-season games each year in London — albeit cutting the number from four to three next season — European basketball fans may have to continue to settle for just one.

“We’re considering bringing additional games to Europe,” Silver said ahead of Thursday’s game between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers at the O2 Arena. “It’s just the logistical challenges for us are so much greater (than for the NFL). The demand is there and the interest is there. It’s really more a question of our schedule and whether we can make it work.”

The NBA has been staging regular-season games at the O2 since 2011 in an attempt to grow the game both in Britain and worldwide. And the interest in this latest edition was sky-high. Tickets sold out in under an hour and were going for multiple times their face value from online re-sellers, with a multitude of soccer stars and other celebrities sitting court-side.

And it was clear from Silver’s pregame news conference that other countries want an up-close look at the spectacle as well.