Detroit Pistons Headed to Paris for 2023 Regular Season Game

The National Basketball Association (NBA) today announced the three-time NBA champion Detroit Pistons will play the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Paris Game 2023 at the Accor Arena on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023.
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The Detroit Pistons will square off with the Chicago Bulls at Accor Arena in Paris for a 2023 regular season game. // Courtesy of Accor Arena
The Detroit Pistons will square off with the Chicago Bulls at Accor Arena in Paris for a 2023 regular season game. // Courtesy of Accor Arena

The National Basketball Association (NBA) today announced the three-time NBA champion Detroit Pistons will play the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Paris Game 2023 at the Accor Arena on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023.

The Pistons will be playing their first game in France, having previously played regular-season games in London in 2013 and Mexico City in 2019. Detroit currently features 2021 No. 1 overall draft pick Cade Cunningham, 2020 Olympic gold medalist Jerami Grant, 2020 number seven overall draft pick Killian Hayes — who is from France — and 2021 NBA All-Rookie Team members Saddiq Bey and Isaiah Stewart.

“The Detroit Pistons organization is excited to take on the Chicago Bulls and play our first-ever game in France,” says Tory Weaver, general manager of the Pistons. “Playing a regular-season game in Paris will be a great experience for our players and coaches and we look forward to showcasing Detroit Basketball to an international audience.”

The NBA Paris Game 2023 will mark the first NBA game in Europe since 2020 and the league’s twelfth game in France since 1991. The NBA Paris Game 2020 — the first regular-season NBA game in Paris — took place Jan. 24, 2020 and featured the Charlotte Hornets and the Milwaukee Bucks.

The game will mark the Bulls’ third game in Paris, having played two preseason games in the French capital in 1997. Chicago currently features five-time NBA All-Star DeMar DeRozan, two-time NBA All-Star and slam dunk champion Zach LaVine, and two-time NBA All- Star Nikola Vučević.

In addition to The NBA Paris Game 2023, the league and its partners will conduct interactive fan activities, NBA Cares community outreach initiatives and Jr. NBA youth basketball development programming that will bring the NBA experience to fans in the French capital.

The game and surrounding events will be supported by a roster of marketing partners, including Foot Locker, Française des Jeux, Gatorade, Nike, SAP, Tissot, and Yop, with additional partners to be announced in the coming months.

“The city of Paris is extremely proud to host these two iconic teams in the Chicago Bulls and the Detroit Pistons,” says Pierre Rabadan, deputy mayor in charge of sport for the city of Paris. “This is an exciting match-up that brings to mind the historic showdown between these Eastern Conference franchises.

“Basketball fans in France have been looking forward to seeing a game of this magnitude again, and I would like to thank our NBA partners for once again choosing Paris for this regular-season game. Paris vibrates with the sport of basketball all year long and this major event will contribute to further developing what is such a dynamic sport, so I have no doubt Parisians will be excited by this news.”