He took them to discover “his” Paris. Landing in the French capital on Monday, January 20, for two relocated games of the NBA season, Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs began their week-long stay in Paris with a warm-up at the Maurice-Thorez sports complex in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre, where the Frenchman started his professional career. After a light-hearted session punctuated by bursts of laughter, the French star took his Texan teammates out for dinner at a Michelin-starred restaurant on the Champs-Elysées.
“It wasn’t just the dinner. We went to a certain store first, too,” said Wembanyama’s teammate and veteran NBA point guard, Chris Paul. “He’s very giving as far as making sure that we experience everything that we can while we’re here.” During a bus ride to training on Wednesday, the French star turned into a tour guide: “We were talking about when the Louvre was built and why,” said Paul, praising how “wise” his young teammate is.
For the fourth time since 2020, the NBA is playing a regular-season game in Paris. With the Wembanyama phenomenon in full swing, the league has pulled out all the stops: the extremely tall French center’s (2.24 m) Spurs will take on the Indiana Pacers on Thursday, January 23, at 8 pm and Saturday, January 25, at 6 pm.
In a sold-out Accor Arena, the Texas-based team will essentially be playing a home game, given the ties they have forged with France over more than a quarter of a century. “There was never an intent or a purpose to go pursue a specific country, but clearly, France was a big part of our growth on the international level,” said Spurs CEO Robert Canterbury Buford – aka “RC Buford.”
‘Victor carries on the tradition’
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