They couldn’t miss the meeting with the Iron Lady. It was for her – among other things – that they crossed the Atlantic. The Brooklyn Nets and Cleveland Cavaliers, despite being chilled by the Parisian climate and feet in the snow in early January, submitted traditional photo at the foot of the Eiffel Tower – a vital stopover for tourists in Paris -, two days before they face each other, Thursday 11 January at 8pm, at the Paris-Bercy arena. For the third time since 2020 (the Covid-19 pandemic prevented editions in 2021 and 2022), the NBA is coming to the capital during the season, accompanied by a parade of events celebrating the cultural influence of North America’s major basketball league.
“It’s a great city, there’s so much history. Music, culture, art, food, fashion and everything… it’s quite an experience to play in Paris”, Nets winger Cameron Johnson enthused. If the game against the Cavs is only one of the 82 regular season games a player will have to play in 2023-2024; for the New York-based franchise, this meeting in Paris is an opportunity to export its brand internationally. And it is not insignificant that the NBA, when selecting candidates for the “NBA Global game 2024”, checked the team of the New York district.
Founded in 2012 in Brooklyn — hailing from neighboring New Jersey — the Nets have reinvented themselves since arriving in the trendy Big Apple. Led by rapper and businessman Jay-Z, then a minority shareholder in the franchise and a Brooklyn personality, the franchise developed a brand image based on the characteristics of its new neighborhood.
A tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat
“It all starts and ends with Brooklyn, explains Ron Goldenberg, vice president of international marketing for the Nets. It is the fashion center of the world, a city that sets trends on a global scale, not only 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 homage to Jean-Michel Basquiat on one of its jerseys during the 2022-2023 season, this time around the franchise has tasked artist Kaws with developing “outfit” collector reflecting both his art and i “buzz in brooklyn”. A few years earlier, it was rapper Notorious BIG that the New York franchise targeted.
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