Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Victor Wembanyama will bring several San Antonio Spurs teammates and coaches together in France ahead of the 2026-27 NBA season Spurs CEO R.C. Buford revealed that a group of around eight to ten people will travel to Paris next week to spend time and work with the French star before training camp. “Our coaches and players are going to be here together next week, doing some work in Paris,” Buford said during an appearance on TrashTalk. “They’re coming over to see Victor, about eight or ten of them.”
Victor Wembanyama is preparing to bring several San Antonio Spurs teammates together in France ahead of the 2026-27 NBA season. Spurs CEO R.C. Buford revealed that a group of players and coaches will travel to Paris to spend time and work with Wembanyama before training camp. "Our coaches, our players are going to be here together next week doing some work… in Paris," Buford said during an appearance on TrashTalk. "They're coming over to see Victor, about 8 or 10."
The Spurs will return to Europe next January, with two regular season games relocated to Paris on the 14th, and then to Manchester, England, on the 17th, against the New Orleans Pelicans. Was this a request from you, or a decision made by the NBA? RC Buford: We are an international program and have always been committed to growing and getting closer to our fans around the world. Playing in Paris again obviously means something to Victor, but we didn't request it. I think the League recognized the impact he had when he played in Paris during the 2024 Olympics and then at the Paris Games in January 2025. The French market is different from the US market, but we have been incredibly well served so far, both by our fans and our commercial partners. And we'll be back in Paris at the end of the month to meet people there and inaugurate a new basketball court
For those first dozen teams, the group is speaking with bidders in Athens, Greece; Barcelona, Spain; Berlin; Istanbul; London; Lyon, France; Madrid, Spain; Manchester, England; Milan; Munich; Paris; and Rome. “We’re extremely encouraged by the final bids we received for permanent franchises,” Mark Tatum, NBA deputy commissioner, said in a statement. “This will be the biggest influx of capital European basketball has ever seen, and we have clear front-runners in each of our 12 target cities, including many existing basketball and football clubs. We will now work with the NBA and FIBA Boards to finalize the long-form agreements.”
The permanent franchise sales will produce billions in capital, with some bids involving London and Paris already topping $1 billion, sources said. While the NBA hasn’t finalized exactly how that money will be divvied up, the majority of it will be used to fund the league’s upfront costs and early operations, the people said. That includes team distributions, reserves, marketing capital and staffing. A portion could also be distributed to existing NBA owners as a dividend of sorts.
Advertisement
NBA Europe’s central revenue will include bigger media packages, league-wide sponsorships, merchandise and licensing opportunities, and perhaps some infrastructure projects. Those revenues will be largely transferred back to the teams, essentially via a preferred distribution, the sources said. Initially, more than 80% will go to teams via a fixed payment made to all clubs (similar to the NFL’s annual distributions) and a performance pool, which will filter more money to teams based on their on-court success.
?NBA Stat?: Summer plans: Victor Wembanyama arrives at the Louis Vuitton Men’s Show in Paris. #NBA
Paris Basketball is exploring a high-profile coaching addition as the club prepares for the next chapter of its project. Paris is in talks with former NBA head coach Dave Joerger, sources tell ESPN's Olgun Uluc and BasketNews. The 52-year-old Minnesota native has been exploring opportunities outside the NBA and is widely expected around the market to emerge as Paris' next bench leader.
Paris is currently coached by 28-year-old Julius Thomas, who took over the team mid-season. However, BasketNews sources indicate that Thomas is expected to leave the organization this summer and is exploring opportunities to join an NBA coaching staff. Former Minnesota Timberwolves executive David Kahn oversees basketball operations in Paris, while the organization has established a growing reputation as a pathway between European basketball and the NBA.
A nine-time NBA champion in the French capital? For a few weeks, Paris believed it. As confirmed to L'Équipe , Steve Kerr, the coach with five championship rings as a player (from 1996 to 1998 with Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls, in 1999 and in 2003 with the San Antonio Spurs), then four as coach of Golden State (2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022), considered the prospect. Even though the hypothesis never turned into formal negotiation, with the Beirut native ultimately signing a two-year extension with the Warriors, the mere idea of imagining such a strong personality in the world of basketball, still active in the NBA, a key piece in one of its dynasties, is dizzying.
Advertisement
Maxime Aubin: Mitch Johnson is delighted about the Spurs' return to Paris in January 2027: "I'm sure it will be a wonderful experience. Honestly, I'm not quite there yet in my thinking (smile), but I'm always thrilled to contribute to the international reach of the game and to be part of this great adventure that is playing abroad."
The NBA's two regular season games in Europe next January will be in Paris and Manchester and The Stein Line has learned that Victor Wembanyama's San Antonio Spurs — for obvious reasons — have been selected to headline the trip. Spurs vs. Pelicans, I'm told, is the expected pairing for the two-game series.
Orlando and Memphis split this season's two Europe games in Berlin in London. Berlin and Paris are scheduled to serve as host cities for the two-game tour in 2028. The NBA, of course, continues to target the 2027-28 season as its launch date for a 12-to-16 team NBA Europe circuit that would be separate from #thisleague. Wemby and the Spurs played two games against Indiana in Paris in January 2025 on the NBA's last in-season visit to France.
