Basketball Empire: France and the Making of the Global NBA and WNBA

Description

The National Basketball Association (NBA), founded over 75 years ago, is staging a 21st century takeover. Watched in 215 countries and territories worldwide, and with one in four players born and trained overseas, it is no longer just about America. In this book, Lindsay Krasnoff shows how basketball’s global takeover could not have happened without France, exploring its interactions with the US and colonial legacies with francophone Africa and the Afro-Caribbean. Taking us back to the very beginnings of basketball, she shows how remnants of empire have shaped the game.

Asking how and why so many French basketball players have joined the NBA and WNBA, Basketball Empire explores what this has meant for the league and the players themselves. Going behind the scenes, it follows the generations of men and women who, since 1950, have followed their passion for the game to create a basketball breeding ground. Including interviews with players, sports journalists, league directors and coaches past and present, it uncovers the transatlantic networks and complex Franco-American relations that have nurtured a mutual exchange of culture, technical skill and knowledge. These first-hand accounts, supported by government and media archives, show how these forms of sports diplomacy have sowed the seeds of a basketball revolution and made the NBA a global cultural entity. Arguing that basketball is deeply indebted to France’s colonial history and US imperialism, this book is about the creation of a cultural empire, and shows how sports can be the vehicle to build bridges between nations.

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