By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
While the London game became a tradition during the last few years, it seems that at least for next year, Paris is the place to be.
As the NBA commissioner Adam Silver said: “I’m told I’m not allowed to break news today, but yes, it is possible. It is something we are looking very closely at, and that is playing a regular-season game in Paris for next season. It is very important. France has historically been a terrific market for the NBA. As you know, we have several players from France as well. I know when we’ve played many exhibition games in Paris over the years — I remember being there with Michael Jordan, the Chicago Bulls and the tremendous excitement around that team. It will continue, I think, to be an important market. We took a number of years off because, of course, your arena was being renovated and upgraded. I haven’t yet been to what used to be Bercy Arena, but I hear it’s fantastic. So we’re looking forward to coming back to Paris“.
As he clarified, however, this doesn’t mean that more than one regular game will be played on the old continent.
“That is not clear yet. I think that, again, it’s still a very labor-intensive undertaking to bring regular-season games over to Europe. Right now, we’re still thinking that the format would probably be to have one game next year. But it’s something that our London office is continuing to explore“.
Silver also talked about the late FIBA secretary general, Patrick Baumann: “This is the first game we’ll have played in Europe since the tragic loss of Patrick Baumann, which I think most of you know was the Secretary General of FIBA. Patrick passed away in October just of this past year. This would have been his 25th year with FIBA. It’s hard for me to be at a game in Europe without Patrick with us. We grew up in the organizations together. Before he was Secretary General, he had a staff job similar to what I did at the NBA before I became Commissioner. I think everyone certainly at the NBA owes him a huge debt of gratitude in terms of what he did over the past quarter century to help grow this game throughout Europe, and for that matter, around the world. He was also an IOC member. I think he single-handedly drove through this new three-on-three basketball that’s to be part of Olympic competition beginning in 2020 in Tokyo. Let me also say to his wife, Patricia, to his daughter, Bianca, and son, Paul, we miss your father very much, and also of course the NBA family will remain close to the Baumann family forever. Again, thank you, Patrick, and all of FIBA“.