Bonjour! 

I’ve just finished a fantastic week of basketball in France and can report that not only do the French play basketball (bien sur, they have since 1893!) but that Paris ❤️ the NBA.

Here are a few cliff notes from my week in the City of Light:
—The NBA is truly global, and France is one of its biggest supporters across many socio-economic levels. As Les Bleus captain and Charlotte Hornet Nicolas Batum told me recently, “We need a couple of #NBA games in #France because the NBA is so loved”

—NBA House was held in the Marias, but as it was pretty full on a Friday afternoon when protests and transportation strikes disrupted much around the city, one measure of turn-out (and no, it was mostly French there, not just Americans).

—Globalization of basketball is made possible by informal (and formal) #hoopsdiplomacy and the cultural exchanges in and around the sport all week are a testament to how #sportsdiplomacy is transferring knowledge about the game and more every single day.

—One of basketball’s appeals is its ability to serve as a universal language. All Parisian Games cofounders Bakary Sakho and Paul Odonnat illuminated how the basketball game, lifestyle, culture (music, cinema, fashion, and more) all help to make basketballers identify with one another around the world, regardless of other identifiers or national differences, perhaps more strongly than footabllers, given the much more local football cultures. One illustration of basketball’s global identity.

Meanwhile, In Case You Missed It:

• I spoke with France24’s Stuart Norval on how sports diplomacy plays into today’s globalized (and globalizing) sports world, as well as the NBA’s Paris sojourn.

• My new CNN International piece on the world’s oldest original basketball court, a hidden sports gem nestled in Paris’ 9th arrondisement along the rue de Trévise

• My Made By History analysis for the Washington Post looked at the longer historical roots for why France has become a critical NBA market

• I had a fruitful discussion on the transatlantic influences in French and NBA basketball at the American Library in Paris

• Alongside Youcef Ouldyassia, I co-moderated a panel on basketball and innovation for Sport & Démocratie, with terrific insights from French Basketball Federation President Jean-Pierre Siutat, NBA Senior Director of NBA League Operations Morgan Cato, and NBA Africa & Basketball Africa League President Amadou Fall.

• Via my Centre for International Studies & Diplomacy, SOAS University of London affiliation, I participated in knowledge exchange about basketball diplomacy in Africa and the new NBA-FIBA Basketball Africa League. 

• Visited INSEP to catch the Pole France Basket-Ball’s scrimmage against NBA Academy hopefuls and match against one of their Nationale 1 (N1) opponents.