Kevin Durant – a current member of the Suns who could be traded to a new NBA team in a matter of days – has invested in Paris Saint-Germain via Qatar Sports Investments, as Adam Crafton and Joe Vardon of The Athletic detail.
Known primarily for its soccer teams, Paris Saint-Germain also has professional handball and judo teams under its umbrella. Despite the fact that there’s already a Paris-based club in the EuroLeague, PSG is looking into the possibility of establishing a basketball team of its own as part of the NBA’s foray into Europe.
According to The Athletic’s report, Durant will consult on Paris Saint-Germain’s potential plans to expand into basketball.
Here are a few more items of interest from around the international basketball world:
- Speaking of NBA Europe, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic checks in on where things stand with the project, noting that the relationship between the NBA and EuroLeague appears to have “thawed” to some extent as of late. That could bode well for some sort of professional partnership between the two entities. “It is becoming more obvious that we have to work together,” EuroLeague CEO Paulius Motiejunas told The Athletic after meeting recently with the NBA. “I believe it is the first meeting of many where we should find ways to grow basketball. FIBA’s wishes are clear and simple and easy to get to. So it is up to both leagues to find ways to grow European basketball. Our history and fan base and teams would be a strong backbone to build on.”
- Basketball activities in Israel have halted for the time being due to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, per Alessandro Maggi of Sportando. Israel’s domestic league, which was in the midst of its finals between Hapoel Tel Aviv and Hapoel Jerusalem, had its season cut short without declaring a champion. It’s also unclear if Israel will be able to send a team to Switzerland for the upcoming U19 FIBA World Cup later this month.
- USA Basketball has officially announced its roster for that U19 2025 World Cup, with A.J. Dybantsa – a contender to be the No. 1 overall pick in 2026 – and Tyran Stokes – ESPN’s top-ranked prospect in the 2026 recruiting class – among the group’s headliners. The tournament will take place in Lausanne, Switzerland from June 28 to July 6.
Today’s rumors
Rockets offer Jalen Green, 10th pick and filler for KD
Suns don’t want Green (consider him as Negative)
So Green and 10th go to Nets
Suns want Smith and Eason in the package , Rockets say no
Result: Suns get …..
Europe already has a league. It’s awesome. In fact, I think the NBA should play under euroleague or FIBA rules before it’s too late. The French Revolution is coming. Anyways, unless getting the grander bigger clubs, it’ll just be a watered-down league. I.e starting clubs from scratch. It’s extremely hard to change Europeans minds on what they’ve been following pretty much since the invention of any sport. And the U.S is going to crack that market? I think Silver is way way out there on this. I expect an epic failure.
That’s embarrassing for Israel’s league.
Extremely hyped to watch this U19 World Cup next week. Daniel Jacobsen over Chris Cenac was a bad choice but this team is ridiculously strong overall. AJ Dybantsa was on all-tournament team last summer at the FIBA U17 World Cup & long term he has potential to be an even better prospect than Wembenyama or Flagg. I fully expect him to be the alpha on this team & win MVP of the tournament.
The comparative “weakness” of the team is probably the guards. I only see 2 true pgs & those guys (Mikel Brown Jr/Brandon McCoy Jr) are great, but they’re both score 1st guys as well. They go against a tough Australia team in the 1st game. Dash Daniels (Dyson’s brother) vs Mikel is gonna be an nice matchup of guards that will be top10 NBA draft picks next yr. I’m pretty sure they play France in the next game which is the team that won this tournament 2yrs ago.
The U19 WC is always 1 of the more interesting basketball tournaments that we get. RJ Barrett famously dominated & carried Canada to gold 1 yr, Oumar Ballo led Mali on an improbable run to a silver 4yrs ago. African teams have done increasingly better on the junior & senior levels recently. We’ll soon find out if that momentum has continued or stalled out… link to m.youtube.com