Basketball in France
The popularity of basketball in France has increased massively and is rising, mainly due to the fact that more and more French players have been selected to play in the NBA. For example, Victor Wembenyama, who got the first round pick to the San Antonio Spurs. Alexander Sarr and Zaccharie Risacher were also selected in the 2024 draft. In addition to this, during the Paris Olympic Games there was a lot of excitement around the French basketball team, who eventually won the silver medal. The success in recent years of the French team has encouraged more and more young people to sign up for teams or play the sport for recreation. According to a graph by the NBA, France had the most rising stars in the 2024 NBA draft with five players, second only to Cameroon with two star players.
There are two basketball leagues in France: the LNB Pro B, or just Pro B, which is second division of the Ligue National de Basket, and finally the LNB Elite, which is division one basketball the top-tier of men’s professional basketball league. There are 16 French teams, from places like Paris, Limoges and Strasbourg. The current champions are Monaco, who now have two league titles. Nicolas Lang, who plays for Limoges, recently set the league record of 3-pointers made with 756.
Basketball in Scotland
It’s a very different picture in Scotland. Despite being invented by Scots-Canadian James Naismith in 1891, only one Scottish basketball player has made it to the NBA. The first and only Scottish player to be drafted into the NBA was Robert Archibald who was drafted in 2002 to the Memphis Grizzlies as the third pick in the second round. Before winning a basketball scholarship to the University of Illinois, he played for Dunfermline Reign. In total, he played for the Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns, Orlando Magic and Toronto Raptors. After only two years in the NBA, he moved to the Euro league, where he played eight seasons. He also won the first of 42 caps for the British team in 2007. He was the first and last Scottish NBA player, proving that it is possible to play for the highest league or even play in the Euro league, even though it will be harder and will definitely need intense and consistent training. Scotland's men's team don't play under their own nation and instead play under GB alongside England and Wales. However, there are Scottish national teams for males and females for the following age groups: Under 14, Under 16, Under 18, and wheelchair. This a promising sign that Scottish basketball is gaining some momentum.
In Scotland there are two divisions in which the best players in Scotland play:
Division One – with teams such as Boroughmuir Blaze, City of Edinburgh Kings, Dunfermline Reign and Falkirk Fury.
Division Two – with teams such as Dundee Madsons, Grampians Ignite and North Lanarkshire Chiefs. Boroughmuir Blaze have the most league titles with 11 and Falkirk Fury won the most recent titles in the 23/24 season, overall they have seven league titles.
Investment in both countries
In France, according to the Comité National Olympique et Sportif Français (CNOSP) “all expenses combined, the annual funding for sports amounts to nearly 40 billion euros, buoyed by public funding, a growing share of private spending and specific funding for major sporting events”. This is a huge amount of money being invested in sport in general and it is quite the contrast with Scotland as, according to Sportscotland, “across 2023/24 sportscotland will invest up to £36.7 million in Scottish Governing Bodies (SGBs), local authorities and wider national partners – an 86% increase on the previous year.”
Why I chose this topic
I chose this topic for my project because I am passionate about basketball and often play with my friends. Our school does a lot to promote sport and we even have a specialist football school. The school has partnered with local basketball clubs so that we have access to qualified coaches. We are now currently working with Blaze basketball club, who I interviewed as a part of this project. However, while we have a great standard of coaching, I believe it would benefit the team if we played more matches against other schools. I would like to know if schools in France share similar experiences with our basketball team and if they have done anything to try and change this.
The other reason this project interested me is because I am studying Advanced Higher French at school and I thought it would benefit my knowledge and understanding of the language, but also my confidence in general. It has helped my writing and understanding in French and has pushed me out my comfort zone. In addition, France played very well in the Olympics and even got to the finals where they lost to the USA. It has been interesting to understand how they developed their basketball talent and the lessons Scotland can learn from this.