European basketball’s EuroLeague continental club competition organizer has announced Jesus “Chus” Bueno as its new chief executive.
Bueno was elected unanimously by the 13-person board of directors of the EuroLeague Commercial Assets (ECA) company, but it is not yet known when he will step into the leadership role.
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The Spaniard was one of two candidates for the role, alongside Germany’s Michael Ilgner.
Bueno will replace outgoing chief executive Paulius Motiejunas, who has held the position since his own election in June 2022.
Since February 2025, Bueno has been the managing director of global OTT streaming service DAZN’s basketball business unit, but his experience in the basketball industry goes back further.
Bueno formerly played professional basketball in Spain for eight seasons between 1988 and 1996 for teams such as FC Barcelona and Valencia Basket.
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By GlobalDataAfter retiring, he entered the business world, becoming an executive director of the Spanish Basketball Federation in 2006.
In 2010, Bueno joined North America’s elite National Basketball Association (NBA), first serving as vice president for Europe before expanding his remit to span Europe, Africa, and the Middle East (as vice president), as well as his native Spain (as managing director).
After departing the NBA in March 2022, he joined agency Legends the following October as international executive and managing director for the Iberia region, before joining DAZN just over two years later.
Bueno steps into the role at a difficult time for the EuroLeague, where it finds itself positioned against the NBA in a dispute over top-tier European competition.
The NBA has partnered with global basketball governing body FIBA to establish an NBA Europe-branded competition, which comes at odds with the EuroLeague’s own positioning as the top basketball championship on the continent.
Euroleague Basketball has reportedly informed the NBA of its plans to take legal action if the US league has engaged in discussions with clubs already committed to the EuroLeague about joining the project.
The organizers of the European club competition recently sent a letter to the NBA and informed all clubs currently holding an A license of their stance.
Euroleague Basketball has railed against the rival project from the outset, stating that it stands “as a threat to the long-standing traditions of European basketball” and that it may “risk fragmentation and confusion within the sport.”
The supremacy of the 26-year-old EuroLeague in the European basketball landscape will face a challenge, but the competition organizers, so far, appear unfazed.
Indeed, Bueno’s predecessor Motiejunas said earlier in January: “We've only heard the plan or the fireworks of how amazing it will be, how much potential there is. But having a theory is one – and making it work is two. We've been here for 26 years. We know how Europe functions.”
Since taking over in 2022, Motiejunas has revamped EuroLeague’s commercial strategy, and overseen a growth period that includes the addition of two new expansion franchises from the 2025-26 campaign onwards, as well as the first-ever Euroleague Final Four played outside of the continent, when it was staged in Abu Dhabi in early 2025.
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