Spurs' coach Gregg Popovich said that his team was the NBA Champions, not the World Champions, because they won the NBA Championship and not the World Championship.

From 2010, teams from around the world will be able to lay claim to being the World Champions under the watchful eye of Fiba, but according to the Associated Press, at least initially the NBA will not be part of it.

"There have been some talks with the NBA," FIBA spokesman Marcos Beltra said. "We will organize the first World Club Championship and then study the situation and in the second one invite the NBA champion."

Beltra said the tournament revives the global club format which lapsed when the McDonald's Championship ended after nine editions from 1987-99. That tournament pitted the continental champions against each other and an invited NBA team.