By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The Cleveland Cavaliers proved in Paris that they are the better team than the Brooklyn Nets, getting the 109-100 win much easier than the final score suggests.
Donovan Mitchell scored 45 points and put on a show in a game where – strangely enough – no European player was on the court.
That’s why the legendary duo of former football megastars David Beckham and Ronaldo stole the show by being courtside. French basketball icon Tony Parker was also in attendance, as most of the PSG football team included Kylian Mbappé.
In the press conference before the game, NBA commissioner Adam Silver once more repeated that Giannis Antetokounmpo is pressuring him to have an NBA game in Greece and also added that he will be back in Paris for the Olympics.
As he said: “I know Grant Hill, who is the general manager of our USA Basketball team, coming off a difficult competition in the Philippines, is ready to field our best team possible. I think a love of competition and a love of this market, seemingly all the marquee U.S. NBA players want to participate. As I said, we’re going to have stars from around the world participating as well”.
Silver added that in his opinion this is the golden era of French basketball, which may have a second straight no.1 pick in the upcoming draft with Alexandre Sarr following Victor Wembanyama: “I remember last year when we were getting questions about Victor, and I think my response was that I didn’t want to jinx him in terms of even raising expectations further. But I’d say Alexandre, again, I saw that same mock draft on ESPN, and in other mock drafts he and, as you know, two other French players have been floating around the top five in those drafts. I’m very encouraged”.
Silver also has some advice for Sarr: “I would say also to him: Don’t get distracted by mock drafts. And at the end of the day, same thing I’ve said to many players since I’ve been in this position on draft day: Just focus on making the league. As we all know, while Victor, of course, was the first pick, there’s great stories — Giannis Antetokounmpo is another one, he was 15th in the Draft”.