BTS member J-Hope heated up the night in Paris on Thursday, delivering a show-stopping performance at a charity event hosted by France's first lady, Brigitte Macron. The K-pop star opened the Yellow Coin Collection Charity Gala at the La Defense Arena in Nanterre,

Wembanyama was born and raised in Le Chesnay-Rocquencourt, a western Paris suburb, and has made it a focus this week to introduce his teammates to Parisian culture and the life he led before he became the NBA Rookie of the Year and likely next face of the league.

The French basketball star arrived in the Paris region on Monday with his partners from the San Antonio Spurs for two NBA games, and returned to his old club, Nanterre.

Officially, Indiana will be the home team on the scoreboard when it plays San Antonio in Paris. The Pacers know better. They will not be feeling right at home.

The high octane glitz of NBA basketball will descend on Paris on Thursday night as the San Antonio Spurs - who feature the French star Victor Wembanyama - take on the Indiana Pacers in the first of two regular season games.

Paris police chief Laurent Nunez deployed 1,000 law enforcement officers for Thursday's basketball game between Paris and Maccabi Tel Aviv amid concerns of protests over the war in Gaza, but faced an different type of disruption.

The centerpiece of the Spurs’ trek to Paris has been Tuesday’s sojourn to Le Chesnay, where Wembanyama was on hand as the city cut the ribbon on an outdoor basketball court adjacent to the gym where he took some of his first fledgling jump shots as a kid.

Paris has long been a hotspot for basketball, with deep ties to the NBA through its rich history of French players who’ve made their mark in the sport.

Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs are in Paris to play two NBA games against the Indiana Pacers, one on Thursday and one on Saturday. It is a homecoming for the 7-foot-4 Frenchman, who has not played a competitive game in his home country since France lost the gold medal game to the United States at the 2024 Olympic Games.

The Texas-based basketball franchise will play the first of its two NBA games in Paris against the Indiana Pacers on Thursday.

After knowing heartache on his last outing at Bercy Arena in the Paris 2024 final, Wembanyama is writing new memories with his teammates in the French capital before getting down to business.