NBA confirms return of Paris game in 2023 with Bulls to face Pistons
North American basketball’s NBA will next year resume its regular season fixture in Europe after today (May 24) announcing that the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons will face off in Paris.
The game will be played at the Accor Arena in the French capital on January 19, 2023.
It will mark the NBA’s first regular season game in Europe since 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The location of the annual game was switched to Paris in the 2019-20 campaign having been played at the O2 arena in London since 2011.
The Charlotte Hornets took on the Milwaukee Bucks in the league’s first-ever regular season fixture in Paris.
Prior to that, however, the AccorHotels Arena had staged nine NBA exhibition games held in France since 1991.
The NBA Paris Game 2023 will mark the Bulls’ third game in the city, having played two pre-season games in the French capital in 1997, while the Pistons will be playing their first game in France, having previously played regular season games in London (2013) and Mexico City (2019).
The Pistons roster features young French prospect Killian Hayes.
The game will be supported by a roster of marketing partners, including Foot Locker, Française des Jeux, Gatorade, Nike, SAP, Tissot, and Yop, with additional partners to be announced “in the coming months”.
In addition to the game, the league and its partners will conduct interactive fan activities, NBA Cares community outreach initiatives, and Junior NBA youth basketball development programming in Paris.
Opening-night rosters for the 2021-22 NBA season featured 12 French players, including Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier, and Nicolas Batum.
NBA games are shown in France by international pay-TV operator BeIN Sports, as well as on the league’s in-house League Pass subscription streaming platform.
Ralph Rivera, NBA Europe and Middle East managing director, said: “Welcoming the Bulls and Pistons to Paris for our second regular season game will be a highlight for fans in France and across Europe, and with Paris hosting the Summer Olympics in 2024, basketball and the NBA are well-positioned for continued growth in France for years to come.”
