Historian, specialist in diplomacy in the world of sport, who has also written for The Athletic, ESPN, the Washington Post and the New Yorker, Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff recently published a particularly interesting book for NBA fans in France.
The work released in September, “Basketball Empire: France and the Making of a Global NBA and WNBA”, discusses the relations between France and the United States in the world of basketball. A long and rich story told by this French-speaking American.
For DNA of Sports, she returns to the history of this book, as well as the sources of the relationship between the two countries, in the decades following the end of the Second World War.
You write that the idea for this book came at the time of the European champion title won by the French team in 2013, also in connection with your own research on Franco-American relations. You wrote your first book, “Making Of Les Bleus: Sport in France, 1958-2010”, already linked to French basketball. Why did you want to continue down this path?
This first book was the finalization of my doctoral thesis. It concerned my research on the development of high-level sport among young people. How and why, under the Fifth Republic, France created training institutes and sports-study programs for young people. In it, there was a strong football accent because it was the most accessible sport. I found it easier to find information about this sport and its history in archives, books, and academic literature. At the same time, there is a small part on basketball because I found documentation on the start of sport-study programs in basketball, in the 1970s. I then had this desire, in the future , to return to basketball. I’m American so, for us, basketball is a more popular, more familiar sport than football.
Therefore, in my former job as a historian in the United States Department of State, I researched American diplomats in France at the time of World War I. I noticed that the Americans had formed very strong bonds with their French counterparts, and it was these citizen-to-citizen bonds that did a lot for France, even if the United States was neutral at the start of the conflict. I thought about this when seeing the Blues’ victory at the Eurobasket, with the many players on this team who have American experience, in the NBA. I asked myself: is there a link between this history of basketball and the historical relationship between the two countries or is it thanks to personal relationships, from citizen to citizen, that the links were nourished?
You write that “the history of France in the NBA, WNBA and NCAA did not take place in a bubble”. Is this why your chapters, in the first part of the work, always begin with a historical reminder of France, on a political and cultural level, so as to never cut the link between sport and society?
That’s why I do this, absolutely. Furthermore, it is a history book and the publishing house it is published by, Bloomsbury, does academic research. So there is not only sports history, but also great history. So, I am making a summary to provide context. And it can also be useful for American readers who are not specialists in Franco-American relations.
“I don’t think Bill Russell was aware of the important role he had in France”
For you“France is today a basketball empire, a breeding ground for players which has contributed to the internationalization and globalization of the NBA”. And what sets it apart is precisely its relationship with the United States, but also its postcolonial heritage. Is the question of racism, raised in your book, also significant in explaining this link between the two countries?
The United States and France are historically countries of immigration where one can come to take citizenship (even if slavery existed officially in the United States until the 1860s, part of its population did not therefore did not arrive on American shores by choice). They are also universalists. I think that, for these two countries today, the world of sport is the most democratic, the most meritocratic for the population, without distinction of social or economic status – even if it is a little different in the United States in some sports.
African-American players have gained influence in the NBA with their level of play obviously, but also with the civil rights struggle. I am thinking here of Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. In doing so, they have earned a place in American culture. For France, I rely on the work of the historian Fabien Archambault, who demonstrated that, in the 1950s, Robert Busnel, the president of the Federation, became closer to American basketball because he was associated to African-American players, notably the Harlem Globetrotters, the first African-American team to tour the world. It was a way for him to improve French basketball, by importing techniques, styles and tactics, without being taxed or criticized for being too close to the culture of the American empire, while there was still racial laws in the United States.
Let’s talk about Bill Russell since you mentioned his name. We notice that he was the model for many of the protagonists in your book: Jacques Cachemire, Henry Field, even Elisabeth Riffiod, Boris Diaw’s mother. Can we say that, indirectly, the former Celtics pivot had a considerable influence on French basketball, without even knowing it?
Yes, we can say that. I was very surprised by this, making the connection with the story of these three characters. I don’t think Bill Russell was aware of the important role he had in France. Because Jacques Cachemire, Henry Field and Elisabeth Riffiod do not play basketball in their corner. They passed on their knowledge of Bill Russell’s style of play to teammates, so over time it became an important part of the French game.
“This story is not about one person or one founding father. It’s above all a question of generations”
By reading your book, we discover things that may seem surprising. For example, Elisabeth Riffiod was encouraged to watch images of the Celtics Finals in the 1960s, even though we might think that NBA videos were non-existent in France at that time. In addition, we learn that French players were considered individualistic in the 1950s – the opposite of their current image. Or that in 1967, the idea of putting an American coach at the head of the Blues was mentioned. Were you surprised by your research?
Totally. It’s always a pleasure when doing research to be surprised by a detail, by an element which does not seem to correspond to today’s reality, but which was at the time. The most surprising thing to me is that this story is not about one person or one founding father. It is above all a question of generations, with family ties, but not in the first sense of the term. These are above all stories of mentors, coaches, models between generations. Even if this changed in the 1980s and 1990s with the French who then began to play in the United States – Paoline Ekambi in particular. From then on, transmission takes place directly, between French people, and no longer goes through an American.
You talk a lot about women’s basketball in the book. From Elisabeth Riffiod and Paoline Ekambi, but also from Katia Foucade or Isabelle Fijalkowski. We learn that French women’s basketball was ahead of its American counterpart in the 1960s and 1970s.
Here too, I was very surprised by this reality. This is because, in those years, there were more opportunities to become a player in France than in the United States. There is information that I learned at the beginning of the year, therefore which is not written in the book: in certain states of the United States, in the 1960s and 1970s, among women, we played basketball six to six. We didn’t play five-on-five like the men… Shocked by what I had heard, I asked Paoline Ekambi to check if this also existed in France. She told me no.
Isn’t the greatest symbol of these exchanges, of this mixing of cultures, for the French, George Eddy? And in the United States, who would it be?
In France, yes, it’s George Eddy. He did a lot and influenced generations of French people with his cultural exchanges. On the other hand, I don’t think he is very well known in the United States. There, especially after his induction into the Hall of Fame, I think of Tony Parker. Although I know that for some Americans, who are not NBA fans, with his name and his first marriage to Eva Longoria, they don’t always know that he is French. Speaking with some of my friends, back in 2015 or 2016, many were unaware of it. I notice this gap between certain Americans and French players, whom they do not see as foreigners. All that changed this year with Victor Wembanyama and the media noise that surrounded his arrival in the NBA. He is undoubtedly seen as a Frenchman.
“Mutual projects will continue in the years to come. The links will continue and mature”
He is perhaps the big absentee, one could say, in the book: Tony Parker. His name is obviously mentioned several times, but no chapter has been devoted to him, unlike Boris Diaw, Rudy Gobert or Evan Fournier. For what ?
He is everywhere in the book because he is an important player in this story. However, I constructed the chapters of the second part with players that I met for this book or for interviews year after year. They accepted my interview requests, which Tony Parker did not do. I have made many requests over the years, without getting any answers. I couldn’t speak with him. It’s a shame but I understand: everyone has their reasons and their priorities.
To conclude, French players have gradually arrived in the NBA and now, almost every year, they are drafted. Some have won individual titles and trophies. There has even been a regular season match organized in Paris since 2020. What could be the next step for Franco-American relations?
It’s a very good question but as I’m a historian, I don’t know the future (laughs). When I look at the sports environment and the Franco-American links which are strengthening – the recent case of Paris Basketball is very, very interesting – it is clear that mutual projects will continue in the years to come. After the Olympic Games in Paris, there will be those in Los Angeles and this is not insignificant for basketball. It is the number one team sport at the Olympic Games, particularly in the United States. Seeing the women’s NCAA begin its season in Paris in November is also remarkable. I don’t know why this choice was made in this direction – perhaps to lead the way before the Paris Games, perhaps because South Carolina coach Dawn Staley played in France in Tarbes – but it is a strong symbol. We also know that the NBA launched a partnership with the FFBB last January, with Adam Silver, Jean-Pierre Siutat and President Macron. Finally, I don’t forget Marie Johannes with the New York Liberty in the WNBA. This can help links with women’s basketball, whose globalization is not yet complete, especially after LeBron James’ congratulatory tweet. All this will help increase the media coverage of French basketball in the United States. The links will continue and mature and it is interesting to imagine what happens next, in five or ten years.
You can find “Basketball Empire: France and the Making of a Global NBA and WNBA” (408 pages) at Bloomsbury. A clarification: the book has not been translated, so it is in English.
