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A report from SI's Ian Thomsen quotes an anonymous league source who says David Stern might announce European expansion plans during this week's All-Star festivities. And by European expansion, he means "five full-fledged NBA franchises in Europe" created within the next decade ... which is stunning.

The current idea would be to create five new teams in major markets to form a "European" division within the NBA. The teams would play the full 82-game schedule and compete for the NBA championship. But the proposal is new and many factors will influence the eventual outcome, the league source said.

Globalization (broadly) and league expansion overseas (specifically) has been Stern's baby this decade. His plans have been repeatedly drug down by the daunting logistics of the matter -- the Chicago-Milwaukee back-to-back is one thing; a road trip to London, Berlin and Madrid is considerably more exhausting. But the biggest bugaboo, as Thomsen discusses, has been the lack of NBA-ready arenas in the Old World. Within a few years, that won't be a problem as at least four major arena projects have been completed or are underway (the aforementioned three plus Rome).

The major problems I see (outside of interference from FIBA or the Euroleague): To limit cross-Atlantic travel, you are going to have long road trips (for the American squads) and homestands (for the Euro teams); and what happens the first time a top draft pick refuses to play for his European team? Vancouver's one thing, Stevie Franchise; how does Berlin in winter sound?

NBA's European Expansion on the Table - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog