The NBA is no stranger to narratives and storylines. After scheduling the Cleveland Cavaliers to play the Brooklyn Nets this upcoming Thursday in Paris, France (2:00 PM ET, NBA TV), they then scheduled the Cavs to take on the San Antonio Spurs and French teenager Victor Wembanyama in their final game before flying to France.
"French Week" for the Cavaliers is an exciting one, and the ties to France stretch throughout the league. Real GM lists 14 active players from France, and more are on the horizon for the 2024 Draft and beyond. The Spurs in particular have strong ties not simply because of Wembanyama but multiple players throughout their recent history.
In the spirit of the week, let's list the five best French players in the history of the NBA. We're factoring in only their play in the NBA, not for the French national team. We're also excluding players technically born in France but who are not French (Dominique Wilkins was born in France!) as well as those who claim some French connection but ultimately are from another country (like Joel Embiid).
With the preamble out of the way, let's discuss on important honorable mention before getting into our list.
Honorable Mention: Victor Wembanyama
Some quick trivia for you. Who is the French player with the highest scoring average in the history of the NBA?
That would be rookie Victor Wembanyama, who is averaging 19.2 points per game across his first 30 games. Additionally, his 3.2 blocks per game are not only the best for a career but the most of any individual season for a French player (they also lead the league this season).
Wembanyama has a long ways to go to pass all of the names on this list, where multiple players have received MVP votes. Yet his dominant defensive start and strong offensive bag even as a rookie have him on the fast-track to superstardom. It would probably log as a surprise if he does not finish as the best French player to play the game by the time he retires. It's too early now, but he'll be on this list very, very soon.
No. 5: Boris Diaw
The San Antonio Spurs connections continue, as Boris Diaw is one of a number of French basketball players to wear the silver and black. Boris Babacar Diaw-Riffiod was born in 1982 in Cormeilles-en-Parisis, France. He entered the league in 2003, selected 20 picks after LeBron James by the Atlanta Hawks. His career was one of peaks and valleys, with strong seasons interspersed with inconsistent efforts.
His breakout season came in 2005-06, when he averaged 13.3 points, 6.2 assists and 6.9 rebounds for the Phoenix Suns, then upped his scoring to 18.7 points per game on a team that made the Western Conference Finals. The middle of his career was spent languishing in Charlotte on bad teams before the Spurs recused him in 2012.
Diaw then reinvented himself as a crafty role player on the Spurs' bench unit, playing hard and filling an important role on a number of great teams, including the Spurs' title-winning team in 2014. He capped off his career in Utah for one season in 2016-17, occasionally starting alongside French center Rudy Gobert and making the second round of the playoffs.
Of all of the players to pass through the Spurs, Diaw was unique in that he fully leaned into his hobbies and preference for the "finer things" in life, something he seems to share in common with head coach Gregg Popovich. Diaw famously had an espresso machine installed in his locker, went sailing during off periods, and helped to bring a layer of French culture to the NBA.
No. 4: Nicolas Batum
Of the 14 French players currently playing in the NBA, Nicolas Batum is the oldest of the bunch. The 35-year-old wing was born in Lisieux, France in 1988 and starred for multiple levels of French basketball as a teenager. He entered the NBA Draft in 2008 and was selected by the Houston Rockets with the 25th-overall pick, then immediately flipped to the Portland Trail Blazers.
Batum carved out a home in Portland, stepping into the starting lineup as early as his rookie season. His smooth jumpshot and defensive chops earned him a rotation role, and he quickly became a full-time starter alongside Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge. He was a bridge into the Damian Lillard era, and was part of an elite starting group featuring Lillard, Wes Matthews, Batum, Aldridge and Robin Lopez.
In the summer of 2015 the Trail Blazers made some major changes to remake the roster, and that included trading Batum to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for Gerald Henderson and the ninth-overall pick. He played well enough in Charlotte to earn a lucrative contract before injuries began to sap his impact.
Similar to Diaw, Batum received a career renaissance when he left the Hornets for a contender, becoming a key part of the LA Clippers' deep rotation of forwards and reaching the Western Conference Finals in 2021. He is now playing in Philadelphia in what could be his final season, although his play still warrants a place in the NBA.
No. 3: Joakim Noah
The only player on this list not to be born in France, Joakim Noah was born in New York, NY in 1985. His father was French tennis phenom Yannick Noah, while his mother was a former Miss Sweden. Noah spoke often about the impact of his multi-cultural background and upbringing. Despite his ties to multiple countries, Noah was always most strongly connected to France, and he competed for the French National Team.
After Noah won two national championships at the University of Florida, the Chicago Bulls drafted him with the ninth overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. He developed from reserve center to snarling, leaping, attacking starting center Joakim Noah over the years, starring in the middle for Tom Thibodeau's perennial playoff teams.
Noah is the first player on this list to boast significant NBA award hardware, making it to two All-Star Teams and three All-Defense Teams. In 2013-14 Noah had his best season, averaging 12.6 points, 11.3 rebounds and 2.7 STOCKS en route to an All-NBA selection and the Defensive Player of the Year award.
The end came quickly for Noah, as injuries caught up to him as he left the Bulls to sign a lucrative deal with the New York Knicks in the summer of 2016. He played two seasons but only 53 games with the Knicks, then another half-season in Memphis and five games with the LA Clippers before calling it quits.
Only Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert averaged more blocks per game among French players than Joakim Noah, and the same is true for rebounding. He announced his retirement in March of 2021 and serves as an ambassador for the Bulls.
No. 2: Rudy Gobert
Victor Wembanyama was the first overall pick in his draft. Rudy Gobert, by contrast, was a player that virtually no one saw coming. A raw seven-footer who was dominant on the French U-18 teams, Gobert nonetheless dropped on draft night, falling to the 27th pick, where the Denver Nuggets traded the pick for cash.
That's right: the Nuggets traded a future Defensive Player of the Year for cash.
Gobert started slow, to no one's surpsie, but by his second season was averaging 2.3 blocks per game. By his fourth season he was dropping 14 points, 12.8 rebounds and a league-leading 2.6 blocks per game; that year he made his first of six All-Defense teams.
The following season Gobert beat out Joel Embiid and Anthony Davis for his first Defensive Player of the Year award; he would win two more times, and make four All-NBA teams and three All-Star appearances. He could add to his trophy case this year as well, leading the Minnesota Timberwolves' No. 1 defense.
Gobert landed in Minnesota after the 2021-22 season as the Jazz entered a rebuild, and his strong play has the Wolves in first place in the Western Conference at the time of writing. He is one of the greatest defenders not simply in French history but league history, with a record-setting wingspan and standing reach and incredible defensive instincts.
Finally, it would be remiss not to mention that Gobert has some of the best nicknames in the league. The "Gobert Report" or "French Rejection" was best known as the "Stifle Tower". Well done NBA fans.
No. 1: Tony Parker
The No. 1 player on this list is likely not a surprise to fans of the NBA over the past 25 years. The San Antonio Spurs (yes, them again) had the longest run of sustained success in basketball history and a French player was at the center of it.
William Anthony Parker Jr. was born in 1982 in Bruges, Belgium but was raised in France. The father of a professional basketball player, Parker developed into one of the best young European guards ever seen. Even so, he was not discussed much leading into the 2001 NBA Draft, allowing the Spurs to draft him all the way back at the 28th pick.
When Parker first checked into a game during his rookie season, he became just the third French player in NBA history. By the end of his rookie season, he became the first foreign guard to make the All-Rookie First Team. He wouldn't stop there.
In his second season Parker exploded for 15.5 points per game and never looked back, becoming one of the key pieces on a perennial contender. He and Tim Duncan developed elite chemistry and his speed and passing helped to elevate an offense while Duncan provided the foudnation for an elite defense.
Parker would make six All-Star games, four All-NBA teams and win Finals MVP in 2007, the highest-scoring player on a well-balanced Spurs team winning its third title in five years. In all, Parker would win four championships with the Spurs.
Parker's career slowly faded out, and at 35 years old he was moved to the bench and the following season played one last year in Charlotte (do all French players end up in Charlotte at some point?) before retiring. He ranks 11th in career playoff scoring and 6th in career playoff assists. He received at least one MVP vote in seven different seasons, finishing as high as fifth in 2011-12.
Victor Wembanyama will be coming for this list. Perhaps Bilal Coulibaly or Ousmane Dieng will end up here as well. Three French players are in the mix to be drafted in the first round in this year's draft. The future of French basketball is bright. As the Cavaliers fly to France this week to play in Paris, they are flying on the legacy of these great French players who went before them.