They could not miss a meeting with the Iron Lady. It is for her – among others – that they crossed the Atlantic. Even chilled by the Parisian climate at the beginning of January and their feet in the snow, the Brooklyn Nets and Cleveland Cavaliers teams submitted to the traditional photo at the foot of the Eiffel Tower – an essential stopover for tourists in Paris –, two days before facing each other, Thursday January 11 at 8 p.m., in the Paris-Bercy arena. For the third time since 2020 (the Covid-19 pandemic prevented the 2021 and 2022 editions), the NBA arrives in the Capital during the season, accompanied by a procession of events praising the cultural influence of the great North American basketball league.

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“It’s a great city, there’s so much history here. Music, culture, art, food, fashion and everything… it’s quite an experience to play in Paris”, enthused Nets winger Cameron Johnson. If the match against the Cavs is, for the players, only one of the 82 regular season matches that they will have to play in 2023-2024; for the franchise from the New York district, this meeting in Paris is an opportunity to export its brand internationally. And it is not insignificant that the NBA checked the New York borough team when selecting the candidates for the “NBA Global game 2024”.

Established since 2012 in Brooklyn – coming from the neighboring state of New Jersey – the Nets have reinvented themselves since their arrival in the trendy Big Apple district. Under the leadership of rapper and businessman Jay-Z, then a minority shareholder of the franchise and a Brooklyn figure, the franchise developed a brand image riding on the characteristics of its new neighborhood.

Tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat

“It all begins and ends with Brooklyn, explains Ron Goldenberg, vice president of international marketing for the Nets. It is a fashion hub of the world, a city that sets trends on a global scale, and not just in fashion, but in all areas of culture. And unlike other NBA teams, we were able to incorporate the city’s unique DNA into our club. » After paying tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat on one of its jerseys during the 2022-2023 season, the franchise this time entrusted the artist Kaws with the task of developing a “jersey” collector reflecting both his art and “the excitement of Brooklyn”. A few years earlier, it was the rapper Notorious BIG that the New York franchise put the spotlight on.

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