Paris Basketball is a French professional basketball club based in Paris. The club currently plays in the LNB Élite, the first division of basketball in France, since 2021 and in the EuroLeague, the first division of basketball in Europe, since 2024.
Founded in 2018, Paris plays its home games at the Adidas Arena. Three years after its establishment, Paris was promoted to the first-level LNB Élite, then known as LNB Pro A, for the first time, in 2021. In 2024, the team won the Leaders Cup and the 2023–24 EuroCup titles, and one year later they won the club's first French championship title and the French Cup.
History
Early history (2018–2022) The club started as a project to bring a big basketball club to the city of Paris, led by David Kahn, former director of the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA). In July 2018, the creation of the professional club was announced. At the revealing, the ambitions were to be a team in the EuroLeague, the highest-level European league, by 2022. The future home arena of the team would be an arena in Quartier de La Chapelle, that was constructed for the 2024 Olympics. The team immediately entered the LNB Pro B, the national second-tier league, as the club bought the licence of HTV Basket. The club would play its home games in the Halle Georges Carpentier, waiting for the construction of the Paris Arena II.
The team began in the Pro B under head coach Jean-Cristophe "JC" Prat, who developed an effective style of play, which showcased young players such as Ismaël Kamagate, Juhann Begarin and Dustin Sleva.
In the 2020–21 season, Paris finished in the second place in the LNB Pro B championship and thus were promoted to LNB Pro A for the first time in club history. During that season, rapper Sheck Wes also played for the team for three games while coming off the bench for Paris.
European success (2022–present) In July 2022, Paris signed Will Weaver as the team's new head coach. Paris Basketball was selected to play in the 2022–23 season of the EuroCup, its debut in European competition.
In June 2023, Paris signed Finnish head coach Tuomas Iisalo, who had led Bonn to a maiden Basketball Champions League title in the previous year. The team also acquired a number of Bonn's key players, including T. J. Shorts, Tyson Ward and Collin Malcolm. On 18 February 2024, Paris won their first trophy in team history, as they won the 2024 Leaders Cup title, by defeating Nanterre 90–85 in the final, with a 26-point performance of the MVP T. J. Shorts.Led by T.J. Shorts, Paris captures maiden French Leaders Cup over Nanterre, eurohoops.net, 18 February 2024
In the Pro A, Paris set a French basketball record with 25 consecutive wins, and finished second after losing to Monaco in the league finals. The team had more success on the international stage – Paris won the 2023–24 EuroCup, following a 2–0 finals win over fellow French team JL Bourg.T.J. Shorts, Paris: 'We feel like nobody can stop us', euroleaguebasketball.net, 25 December 2023 Following their championship, Paris Basketball earned their promotion to the 2024–25 season of the EuroLeague. The club also announced that it will also launch its women's team.
After their EuroCup-winning season, coach Iisalo left the team to be an assistant coach (and later interim turned official head coach) for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). In June 2024, Tiago Splitter was signed as his replacement, which was Splitter's first head coaching job.
In the 2024–25 season, Paris made its debut in the EuroLeague, the highest level of European basketball. The team managed to qualify for the playoffs through the play-ins, and was eventually defeated by Fenerbahçe in the quarterfinals.
Honours and other achievements Honours Type Competition Titles SeasonsInternationalEuroCup1 2023–24DomesticFrench League12024–25French Cup12024–25French League Cup12024French Supercup12026
Other achievements Domestic competitions French League Runners-up (2): 2023–24, 2025–26 LNB Pro B Runners-up (1): 2020–21
Season by season SeasonTierLeagueFrench CupLeaders CupEuropean competitions2018–192 Pro B 11th16–18 Round of 64 Quarterfinalist 2019–202 Pro B 10th11–12 Round of 32 Quarterfinalist 2020–212 Pro B 2nd23–11 Round of 64 Semifinalist 2021–221 Pro A 15th13–21 Quarterfinalist 2022–231 Pro A 9th16–18 Round of 32 2 EuroCup 2023–241 Élite 2nd 27–7 Round of 64Champion 2 EuroCup 2024–251 Élite 1st 31–10Champion Quarterfinalist 1 EuroLeague 2025–261 Élite 2nd 29–13 Round of 16 Quarterfinalist 1 EuroLeague
Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.
International record Season Achievement Notes EuroLeague 2024–25 QuarterfinalsEliminated 3–0 by Fenerbahçe, 83-78 (L) & 89-72 (L) in Istanbul, 88-98 (L) in Paris.EuroCup 2022–23 QuarterfinalsEliminated by CB Gran Canaria, 104–74 (L) in Las Palmas.2023–24ChampionsDefeated 2–0 JL Bourg Basket, 77-64 (W) in Paris, 81-89 (W) in Bourg-en-Bresse, in the final of the EuroCup.
The road to the EuroCup triumph
2023–24 EuroCup Basketball Round Team Home Away RS BC Wolves105-7879-110 Reyer Venezia100-7075-81 Hamburg Towers120-9169-105 London Lions94-77102-106 BC Prometey93-7279-96 Hapoel Tel Aviv B.C.114-8786-104 Joventut Badalona89-8294-101 Beşiktaş63-6872-95 KK Cedevita Olimpija119-6677-93QF Joventut Badalona86-70SF London Lions99-8685-93F JL Bourg Basket77-6481-89
Home arenas
The team's home arena is called Adidas Arena, which seats 8,000 spectators. Secondary home arena
The team's secondary home arena is called Accor Arena, which seats 15,705 spectators. Former arena
The team's home arena from 2018 to 2024 is called Halle Georges Carpentier, which seats 5,009 spectators.
Players
Current roster
Depth chart
Notable players
Players at the NBA draft
PositionPlayerYearRoundPickDrafted bySG Juhann Begarin20212nd round45thBoston CelticsC Ismaël Kamagate20222nd round46thDetroit Pistons
Head coaches +No.NameFromToRef.1 Jean-Christophe Prat201820222 Will Weaver202220233 Tuomas Iisalo202320244 Tiago Splitter20242025Trail Blazers Name Tiago Splitter, Patrick St. Andrews And Quinton Crawford to Coaching Staff, nba.com, 11 June 20255 Francesco Tabellini20252026Francesco Tabellini joins Paris Basketball as Head Coach, parisbasketball.com, 30 June 20256 Julius Thomas20262026Julius Thomas, nouvel entraîneur principal par interim du Paris Basketball, parisbasketball.com, 23 mars 20267 Maxime Lefèvre2026
Individual awards
All-EuroLeague First Team T. J. Shorts – 2024–25 EuroLeague Rising Star Nadir Hifi – 2025 EuroLeague Play-In MVP T. J. Shorts – 2025 EuroLeague MVP of the Month T. J. Shorts – November 2024 EuroLeague MVP of the Round T. J. Shorts – 2024–25, Regular Season, Round 5. T. J. Shorts – 2024–25, Regular Season, Round 10. T. J. Shorts – 2024–25, Regular Season, Round 30. T. J. Shorts – 2024–25, Regular Season, Round 32. EuroCup Basketball MVP T. J. Shorts – 2024 EuroCup Basketball Finals MVP T. J. Shorts – 2024 EuroCup Basketball Coach of the Year Tuomas Iisalo – 2024 All-EuroCup First Team T. J. Shorts – 2023–24 All-EuroCup Second Team Nadir Hifi – 2023–24 EuroCup Basketball MVP of the Week Ismaël Kamagate – 2022–23, Regular Season, Round 6. T. J. Shorts – 2023–24, Regular Season, Round 1. T. J. Shorts – 2023–24, Regular Season, Round 10. T. J. Shorts – 2023–24, Regular Season, Round 12. T. J. Shorts – 2023–24, Playoffs, Quarterfinals. T. J. Shorts – 2023–24, Playoffs, Semifinals.
Sponsorships Official Shirt SponsorOlyBetOfficial Sport Clothing ManufacturerAdidas
Esports The official Paris Basketball NBA 2K esports team was founded in July 2024. The team currently competes in the Cyber EuroLeague.
References
External links