Rumors

Two-time NBA champion Kevin Durant has expanded his relationship with Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), investing directly into UEFA Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain as part of a strategic partnership that will also see Durant consult on the club’s “potential plans” to expand into basketball.

New York Times

Michael Rubin on Knicks fans: Knicks were a couple years ago, people thought they were always a team that was a joke and they pulled that together. Leon Rose, all those guys, they've done a great job. You got to give mad respect to what they've done. And by the way, Knicks fans are for real. I was last weekend I was at the Champion League finals sitting with the owner of PSG and I put out on my Instagram like US sports fans got to step it up and I think I had like 500 Knicks fans trying to kill me for just accusing them of not being good enough fans cuz I was giving the the PSG and Inter Milan fans props for being such crazy soccer fans and I think the Knicks fans were ready to kill me. Those fans are serious man. You guys are great fans.

YouTube

If that league is up and running by the time you’re knocking on retirement’s door, and it’s like, you know—Paris or London—would you go play another year or two over there if it’s between that and retiring?” Josh Hart: “No.” Jalen Brunson: “I hope it would be something where like, it’s like Champions League. Yeah, where it’s not like—it’s a legit league where you’ve got to go and play games over there. But like, towards the end of the season, you qualify—like the in-season tournament—you qualify, and then you can go play in a week or two worth of games. That’s what I would hope.

YouTube

Preparations for Euro 2025 are set to begin at the end of July—five months after Wembanyama’s last game. In addition to the 2024 Rookie of the Year, other French NBA players have expressed their interest. “Boris (Diaw, general manager of the French team) saw them during two or three trips to the U.S. this season. As of now, 100% of the players have told us they’re interested in joining,” added Fauthoux, who also spoke about Zaccharie Risacher (Atlanta) and Alexandre Sarr (Washington), both in the race for Rookie of the Year. “They’re close to being pre-selected. These are two very promising players with a lot of talent, and both are getting playing time in the NBA, which is very important for me. For potential selection, it’s essential, especially considering the competition from EuroLeague, EuroCup, and Champions League players,” Fauthoux emphasized.

L'Equipe

While in Paris last month for both Spurs-Pacers tilts, Silver attended soccer giant Paris-Saint Germain’s Champions League match against Manchester City and met with PSG’s top officials about potentially being involved in the new basketball league. One top European basketball source said PSG is interested. The city’s soccer conglomerate is owned by Qatari government-backed Qatar Sports Investments, is worth $4.2 billion and has unmatched brand recognition in France. By comparison, Paris Basketball’s budget for the 2024-25 season is $20 million, according to publicly available data.

New York Times

While in Paris, Wembanyama has chosen to focus on engaging with French media to help connect with the French audience. His three exclusive interviews were all with French companies, including Picsou Magazine — a children’s magazine he used to read when he was younger. This week, he’s arranged a shopping trip and a dinner for his San Antonio Spurs teammates and opened outdoor courts in Le Chesnay (both on Monday), made appearances at Paris Fashion Week (Tuesday), and watched Paris Saint-Germain take on Manchester City in the Champions League, European soccer’s premier cup competition (Wednesday).

New York Times

In conversations this week, several sources mentioned the possibility of playing the semifinals at home sites, then having the championship game in Vegas. That's similar to how the UEFA Champions League in soccer and other cup-style tournaments are played.

ESPN

BasketNews: Micheal Jordan was spotted watching the UEFA Champions League match between Monaco & Barcelona👀

Twitter

As reported by French sports journalist Romain Molina and transfer market Italian reporter Fabrizio Romano, Kevin Durant will become a minority stakeholder of Paris Saint-Germain, the biggest football club in France and one of the favorites to win the UEFA Champions League every season.

EuroHoops.net

Banned NBA player Jontay Porter had his request to play professional basketball in Greece denied by a federal judge Tuesday, one week after the former Toronto Raptors forward pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges related to a betting scandal. In a docket post published Tuesday night, Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall refused to give Porter permission to play for Promitheas BC in the Greek Basketball League and Champions League in Europe.

ESPN

The jokes wrote themselves with Joel Embiid over the weekend. The Philadelphia 76ers star Embiid made a guest appearance on CBS Sports’ coverage Saturday of the UEFA Champions League final between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund. Embiid, who is a big fan of Real Madrid and often tweets about his support for them, appeared on the “Champions League Today” pre-show along with hosts Kate Abdo, Thierry Henry, Jamie Carragher, and Micah Richards. He made for some great television with the crew as well.

Larry Brown Sports

CJ Fogler: Joel Embiid is on the Champions League preshow

Twitter

Spanish club Real Madrid is used to dominating the two most popular sports of the continent: football and basketball. The club's former player, Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks, commented on recent rumors regarding Real's football team and star player Kylian Mbappe. "With or without Mbappe, we can win many [UEFA] Champions Leagues," Doncic said in remarks after the NBA All-Star game.

BasketNews

Mbappe, 25, met the future NBA star before the 2023 NBA Draft Lottery. Last summer, in a star-studded crowd gathering to watch the San Antonio Spurs securing the opportunity to select Wemby with the top pick of the draft. “I wish him all the luck in the world and to win as many Champions League titles as he can,” he added on the explosive forward, who is expected to be landed by Real Madrid. “In any case, he will still play with the French national team and could win many World Cups,” noted Wembanyama.

EuroHoops.net