It is a first which, inevitably, attracts all eyes. Friday, January 24, at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris-Bercy, the City of Lights will host a NBA regular season meeting for the very first time in its history. A major event in one of the high places - and one of the largest markets - of basketball in Europe, which will pit the Charlotte Hornets, emblematic franchise of the 1990s, to the Milwaukee Bucks, contenders for the title at the end of the season . And behind the logos, a slew of stars from the orange balloon.
• Giannis Antetokoúnmpo, the standard bearer
A few days before this gala meeting, France 24 decided to shine the spotlight on three of them. The first, without hesitation possible, is called Giannis Antetokoúnmpo. At 25, the immense Greek (2 m 11, 110 kg) never ceases to impress. Elected MVP (best player in the league) in the 2018-19 regular season, the Bucks winger became the third non-American player to win this distinction. A symbol all the more speaking at a time when the NBA claims, especially through this NBA Paris Game, the internationalization of its league.
Son of Nigerian immigrants settled in the suburbs of Athens in the mid-1980s, the "Greek Freak" (2.35m wingspan and 27cm long hands) has become one of the showcases of world basketball. And, on the occasion of this Paris relocation, it constitutes a real gift for all European fans. Because if the NBA had taken the habit of organizing, every year since 2011, regular season meetings in London, never a MVP in title had taken part.
• Nicolas Batum, the local of the stage
Another presence with a strong symbolic content: that of Nicolas Batum, on the side of the Charlotte Hornets. His ex-teammate Tony Parker having formalized his retirement last June, the Norman winger will be the only French player to play on the floor, Friday evening. An appointment inevitably charged with emotion for this pillar of the NBA, which has been evolving across the Atlantic since 2008.
Antetokoúnmpo did not have too many illusions, in an interview for the newspaper L'Équipe, a few weeks ago. "There will be Nicolas Batum opposite, so if the public chooses to support him rather than me, it will be a good war and I will be happy for him (laughs)", he laughed then. This Parisian parenthesis could in any case do good to "Batman", who lives a season more than contrasted with the Hornets. Injured twice since the start of the fiscal year, he struggled to regain the level of play that had made him an unstoppable 5 major in his franchise.
• Bismack Biyombo, the ambassador of the African continent
Finally, how not to mention this NBA Paris Game without mentioning the presence of Bismack Biyombo in the jersey of the Charlotte Hornets. The 27-year-old pivot, born in Lubumbashi in DR Congo, is one of the standard bearers of African basketball in the NBA. An ambassadorial role which he fully assumes. "I think we will have an NBA game in Africa very soon [...] In one way or another, I will be involved," he said at the end of last week at a press conference.
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"Today, young African players will no longer systematically have to go through China or Europe to show themselves. NBA recruiters are looking into Africa," he said at the time. Biyombo, now a safe bet in the North American league and recognized player by his peers - he is vice-president of the NBA players association - had not had this chance. Drafted in 2011, it had made its classes during several seasons in Spain, before becoming the eighth African to integrate the NBA. Less than a decade later, there are about thirty of them treading the North American floors.
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