The NBA's French Revolution May Turn Into Something Greater, If Europe Allows

The feasibility and marketability of a hypothetical NBA Europe

Something’s brewing in France, and it isn’t just French onion soup.

On Thursday, the Spurs and Pacers faced off in the fourth-ever NBA regular season game in Paris, with the Spurs blowing out Indiana in quite shocking fashion. Of course, the basketball itself wasn’t the main event as much as Victor Wembanyama’s presence was; fans crowded Accor Arena, home to the local Français Volants ice hockey team, just to see a glimpse of the fabled Hector Banana-Bread (sorry, very online reference) and his compatriots stomp all over a team from a state that French people have likely never heard of. And, despite the blowout, Wemby himself lived up to the fans’ hype like always, scoring 30 points, grabbing 11 rebounds, and swatting 5 blocks on 61% shooting — if the Spurs were a true playoff contender, you’d see more MVP hype for the second-year Frenchman.

And yet, away from the court, the most intriguing part of the day came during NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s press conference, in which he revealed that the NBA is quite interested in invading expanding to Europe, but not via a traditional expansion team. The question, of course, is whether the NBA’s dreams are feasible — and whether the current European basketball landscape would care.