The National Basketball Association commissioner, Adam Silver, has admitted that his sport has fallen behind American football in physically expanding into the UK but said its ultimate aim remained to launch four European franchises.

The NFL has expanded the number of regular season games at Wembley to three and is targeting 2021 to have a full-time London franchise in place, while the NBA is this week staging its fifth regular season game in London.

“My sense is that the NFL is a little bit ahead of us in terms of their timeline for having a franchise based in London. There are some aspects of their schedule that make it easier – they play once a week, they have fewer games,” said Adam Silver, who took over from David Stern as the commissioner last year.

“It will be easier logistically for them to pull it off. It would be difficult for us to have one team in Europe. We’d have to put both feet down. That would mean having four franchises in Europe.”

He said that the arena infrastructure was improving across Europe with US-style arenas in place or under construction in England, Germany, France and Spain.

“We’re not there yet. I know that as much growth as we’ve seen, we have a long way to go before we can sustain four franchises in Europe,” said Silver, who has worked at the NBA since 1992. “On the other hand, I believe it’s our manifest destiny to expand.”

The Milwaukee Bucks will play the underperforming New York Knicks at the O 2 on Thursday night in the fifth regular season game to take place in the UK. Others have taken place throughout Europe and in other parts of the world. The game sold out in record time and Silver insisted the sport is attracting new fans rather than preaching to the converted.

“We are reaching new audiences. Each time we come, we learn from prior experiences and mistakes we’ve made. When we play here, I think there is an audience that might not normally watch simply because the match is here,” said Silver. “Then there’s a viral component, word of mouth. The NBA is very much a creature of social media. That’s a large part of our growth.”

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Silver was praised for the swift action taken in banning the former Los Angeles Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, for life last year after his deeply racist comments came to light. In November, the Charlotte Hornets forward Jeff Taylor was suspended for 24 matches after pleading guilty to misdemeanour domestic violence assault and malicious destruction of hotel property.

However, when asked about the recent furore over attempts by the former Sheffield United striker Ched Evans to return to football after being released on licence having serving two and half years of a five year sentence for rape, Silver said it was important that each case was judged on its specific facts.

“I am a lawyer by training. I believe in due process. I believe that someone who is contrite and has paid their price to society ... I don’t think anyone wants to live in a society where people don’t get second chances,” he said. “But often the question I get is whether someone should get a second, third or fourth chance. That’s why I think these cases are very fact-specific.”

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Silver would not be drawn on whether the US model, with an all powerful commissioner able to take swift decisions, was better than English football’s disparate group of ruling bodies but said speed was a key factor in dealing with off-court incidents.

“I think a hallmark of the NBA is that we’re very focused on due process for our players but speed is critically important,” he said. “There’s an expectation from our fans and our teams that we determine as quickly as possible where our players stand. People need to know and the public has a right to understand that. There are benefits to being a small, private organisation.”

Silver added that it was inevitable that shirt sponsorship would be introduced in the NBA but that the specifics of how it should be sold and how the revenue should be divided up were still to be worked out. He also said that he wanted to see the Atlanta Hawks, a franchise that is currently up for sale, remain in the city.

“I do want to see the Hawks stay in Atlanta and we’ve made that clear to the market. I don’t think it would be a real issue because I think it would be a shock if they were to sell to a group who wanted to seek to transfer the team out of Atlanta,” said Silver. “It’s a fantastic NBA market. There’s a great tradition of NBA in Atlanta. I’m not sure why someone would want to move the team out of that market.”