The San Antonio Spurs of French prodigy Victor Wembanyama will play two games of the next NBA regular season in Paris, on January 23 and 25, 2025, against the Indiana Pacers, the North American professional league announced on Monday.
“Paris, we’re coming back!! And for two games,” indicated the NBA on its X account in French. If the French capital will host an NBA regular season match for the third year in a row, it will be a first for Wembanyama’s Texan franchise. The location of the meeting is not specified, although the last two editions of the “Paris Game” took place in Bercy.
In January, the Cleveland Cavaliers dominated the Brooklyn Nets in this room. A year earlier, it was the Chicago Bulls who won this relocated meeting against the Detroit Pistons.
The arrival of the Spurs had been in the works for several months, in the wake of the emergence of the phenomenon Victor Wembanyama, selected by the Texan franchise as the first choice in the first round of the draft last June.
In mid-October, a Spurs delegation made a first prospective trip. Asked on this occasion about his desire to see San Antonio play an official meeting in Paris, the boss of the franchise Peter J. Holt did not mask his enthusiasm, citing “a fairly strong probability”.
“If it were up to us, I would confirm it to you straight away,” he added.
Beyond that, “we are actively seeking partnership opportunities with French companies in all areas,” declared the owner of Spurs Sports&Entertainment, the holding company which owns Spurs, among others.
In addition to Paris, which it particularly likes, the NBA is seeking to develop the holding of matches outside its natural borders (United States and Canada), in Europe, Mexico and the Middle East.