Paris Basketball is a French professional basketball club based in Paris. The club currently plays in the LNB Pro A, the first division of basketball in France, and the EuroCup.
Founded in 2018 by David Kahn and Eric Schwartz, Paris Basketball plays its home games at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena. Three years after its establishment, Paris promoted to the first-level Pro A for the first time in 2021. Paris Basketball won the LNB Pro A Leaders Cup in 2024.
History
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.[1] 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.[2] The club would play its home games in the Halle Georges Carpentier, waiting for the construction of the Paris Arena II.
In the 2020–21 season, Paris finished in the second place in the LNB Pro B championship and thus were promoted to the LNB Pro A for the first time in club history.[3] During that season, rapper Sheck Wes also played for the team for three games while coming off the bench for Paris.
Recent years
The team was selected to play in the 2022–23 season of the EuroCup, its debut in European competition.[4]
Paris had a strong start in 2023–24 EuroCup, and the club finished top of their group in the Eurocup with a record of 17 wins and 1 loss.[5]
On 17 February 2024, Paris Basketball won the LNB Pro A Leaders Cup, their first trophy in club history. They defeated favored Monaco in the final 98–93, behind tournament MVP T. J. Shorts who recorded 22 points and 5 assists in the win.[6][7]
