Basketball Empire

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 nearly one in three players born and trained overseas, it is no longer just about America. In this book, Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff shows how basketball's global takeover could not have happened without France, exploring its interactions with the United States 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 media and government archives, show how these forms of sports diplomacy sowed the seeds of a basketball revolution and helped make the NBA a global cultural entity. Arguing that basketball is deeply indebted to France's colonial history and close, albeit complicated, relationship with the United States this book is about the creation of a cultural empire, and shows how sports can be the vehicle to build bridges between nations.

Dr. Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff is a historian, writer, speaker, and consultant specializing in the history of global sport, communication, and diplomacy. Director of FranceAndUS, which highlights sports ties between France and the United States, she lectures on global sports and sports diplomacy at the Robert Preston Tisch Institute for Global Sport, New York University. Author of Basketball Empire: France and the Making of a Global NBA and WNBA, The Making of Les Bleus: Sport in France and Views From the Embassy: The Role of the U.S. Diplomatic Community in France, 1914, she has written about global sports for The Athletic, CNN International, VICE Sports, ESPN, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and others. As a Research Associate with the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy, SOAS University of London, she co-directed the "Basketball Diplomacy in Africa" project pegged to the NBA's Basketball Africa League. A veteran of the U.S. Department of State, Krasnoff holds a PhD in History from The Graduate Center (City University of New York), MA in Journalism and French Studies (NYU), and BA in International Affairs (The George Washington University).

Acknowledgements Glossary Interview Subjects Introduction Prologue Part I: Foundations 1. "I Didn't Go to France to Play Basketball" 1954-1960 2. Basketball in Crisis, 1960-68 3. Emulating an Idol, 1968-198 4. Triangulating Foundations, 1968-1984 5. New Waves, 1984-92 6. From the Dream Team to Sydney, 1992-2000 Part II: French in the USA Global Scouting Report 7. Renaissance Man Boris Diaw 8. Transatlantic Champion Sandrine Gruda 9. "We Did It!" Nicolas Batum and Marine Johannès 10. Representing Paris Diandra Tchatchouang and Evan Fournier 11. From Cholet to the NBA Part III: Going Global Going Global in the Twenty-First Century 12. Youth Pipelines 13. "Rubbing Shoulders" with African Basketball 14. Contributions to the NBA and WNBA 15. La Vie en Bleu Epilogue Selected Bibliography Index