Paris Basketball president David Kahn discussed his journey and philosophy on the Fullcourt Passport podcast hosted by Ric Bucher and Bostjan Nachbar. “I’m a Europhile to begin with, so I always appreciated Europe and always, you know, favored Europe over the States. And I don’t think I’m saying something that should be interpreted as political, but life in America has not gotten better since I left. And I’m very happy to be living here.”
Kahn reflected on founding Paris Basketball with Eric Schwarz, noting the club’s rapid rise. “This club is only 7 and a half years old. And we’ve had an enormous amount of success the last few years in particular. In fact, the last couple nights up in Portland, our last two head coaches went head-to-head, Tuomas Iisalo and Tiago Splitter. I’m pretty sure that’s never occurred before in European basketball where a team has helped create two NBA head coaches.”
The president highlighted the differences between running a EuroLeague team and working in the NBA. “I spent nine years with the Indiana Pacers… Donnie Walls was sort of the last of a dying breed of executives who had oversight over business, basketball, and the arena. Nowadays in the NBA, everything is so siloed… This opportunity to found the club here and start the club from nothing has allowed me to go back to the way I like to do things in Indiana.”
Kahn credited Paris Basketball’s coaching hires for the team’s impact on the NBA. “We hired a very talented coach named Tuomas Iisalo… We won 25 straight games that year. Really kind of unheard of. He became so successful that he got on the radar of several NBA teams and Memphis was the first one to identify him. Tiago Splitter… we were fortunate that he wanted to be a head coach, and he proved to be very good at it.”
The club’s signature uptempo style also reflects Kahn’s basketball philosophy. “I’ve always adored basketball when it’s played fast and open style. … Basketball is a game of numbers. Four on three, three on two, two on one, which is what fast break basketball is all about. We sub a lot… if they don’t sprint on every play, then they shouldn’t be playing.”
He emphasized the importance of transparency with players. “We tell them upfront… there’s a lot of players that don’t understand how to play that hard, especially guys from the NBA. Most of our practices are no more than 50 minutes, but they’re very choreographed and intended to increase competitiveness.”
Kahn also spoke on the appeal of European basketball. “I fell in love with European basketball in 1987… There’s something very rustic, romantic. You feel there’s just something more earthy and more real than the NBA.” He praised the fan culture in Paris, noting, “Parts of it would feel a little NBAish, but parts of it would feel like Parisian street culture and parts of it would feel European because we’ve got a pretty good supporter section now that is chanting like the Greeks and like the Serbs.”
He shared candid opinions about recent NBA games in Europe, saying, “The NBA now comes to Europe every year and the games that they bring are unwatchable. I heard this year, for example, that the game in Germany was okay because the Wagners were there… It’s been much different in London. I hear it was bad. Of course, we’ve had some bad ones here. … People come to our next home game and invariably they tell us how much better the experience was at our game.”
Looking ahead, Kahn discussed potential NBA involvement in Europe. “It would be important for the NBA to learn… they cannot come in with just some overarching template. …We could use the NBA’s expertise, particularly in revenue generation, but culturally, they need to be mindful of differences.”
Paris Basketball currently sits 18th in the 2025-26 EuroLeague standings with an 8-18 record, but Kahn’s focus remains on building a sustainable club identity. “I love building things and I love being at the front of something… The connection between fans and the club is natural and historic.”
