Basketball is not what comes to mind when you think of France. But as the home of the world’s oldest basketball court and the biggest basketball tournament in the world, France boasts a unique interaction of basketball history, art, and street culture. In this episode of THE WAY WE BALL, we trace the country’s rich legacy within the sport and how it’s getting this generation’s best European basketball players, like Sekou Doumbouya, to the NBA.
Rewind a generation and the barrier to entry for foreign players to the NBA was at an all-time high--considered “soft” and unable to keep up with American competition, European players carried a stigma. But when Dražen Petrović arrived to the NBA and team Croatia went toe-to-toe with the Dream Team in the 1992 Summer Games Finals, the outlook for Dario Šarić and a new generation of European players changed forever.
Canada is a hockey country, but Toronto is quickly becoming a basketball town. The success of the Raptors, an immigrant population and one of the best prep teams in the world has made the 6ix into a basketball factory. In this episode of THE WAY WE BALL, we trace the journey of a few local products, including Jamal Murray’s path from Kitchener to the NBA and the young career of the best middle school basketball player in the world.
In 1987, then-commissioner David Stern cut a deal with CCTV to broadcast NBA games in China. What followed was the growth of a passionate basketball fanbase spearheaded by Yao Ming’s success in the NBA. But this country’s basketball culture is more than just Yao—from Emmanuel Mudiay’s lone season in the CBA to a new, up-and-comer’s success in the league, THE WAY WE BALL takes a look at the future of this country’s basketball scene.
Africa has always been referred to as a sleeping giant when it comes to basketball. A shortage of resources and coaching has inhibited the continent’s untapped potential. But thanks to Luc Mbah a Moute’s success in the NBA, the native Cameroonian has been able to give back to his homeland by setting up basketball infrastructure back home that has produced Joel Embiid and Pascal Siakam. In this episode of THE WAY WE BALL, we follow one prospect’s experience and success through these camps—Joel Embiid.
