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Paris Basketball is exploring a high-profile coaching addition as the club prepares for the next chapter of its project. Paris is in talks with former NBA head coach Dave Joerger, sources tell ESPN's Olgun Uluc and BasketNews. The 52-year-old Minnesota native has been exploring opportunities outside the NBA and is widely expected around the market to emerge as Paris' next bench leader.
Paris is currently coached by 28-year-old Julius Thomas, who took over the team mid-season. However, BasketNews sources indicate that Thomas is expected to leave the organization this summer and is exploring opportunities to join an NBA coaching staff. Former Minnesota Timberwolves executive David Kahn oversees basketball operations in Paris, while the organization has established a growing reputation as a pathway between European basketball and the NBA.
David Kahn on Rick Adelman: One of the last images I have of him is of him sitting at a small desk he'd asked to be set up in a corner of the court during pre-game shootarounds at lunchtime. His assistant led the session, and he watched. In front of him were Werther's Original candies, spread out with index cards on which he devised post-timeout strategies. He was like a schoolteacher. As a coach, he developed benchmark systems based on player and ball movement, undoubtedly inspired by Jack Ramsay (coach of Portland's 1977 NBA championship, for whom Adelman served as an assistant from 1983 to 1986). He was often underestimated, perhaps because he was so adept at adapting to his players. He possessed a quiet professionalism. When I once asked RJ what the secret to his father's success was, he replied, "He has the talent to not hear or be affected by what's happening around him, to stay in his own bubble." Over the course of his career, he became one of the very best coaches in history.
A nine-time NBA champion in the French capital? For a few weeks, Paris believed it. As confirmed to L'Équipe , Steve Kerr, the coach with five championship rings as a player (from 1996 to 1998 with Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls, in 1999 and in 2003 with the San Antonio Spurs), then four as coach of Golden State (2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022), considered the prospect. Even though the hypothesis never turned into formal negotiation, with the Beirut native ultimately signing a two-year extension with the Warriors, the mere idea of imagining such a strong personality in the world of basketball, still active in the NBA, a key piece in one of its dynasties, is dizzying.
“Steve contacted me during the second week of the Olympics, saying that he and his wife had spent a whole day walking around Paris, and that they couldn’t stop thinking how cool it would be for them to live in that city, and for him to perhaps continue his coaching career there once he left the NBA,” recounts the Portland native, co-founder of the Parisian club in 2018. “ Later that same week, we met at his hotel and I told him that the job on the bench for Paris Basketball would be there for him, if he wanted to take the plunge.”
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Kahn and Kerr have known each other for nearly twenty years. But Kahn feels close to him for another reason. For years, Kerr's voice echoed in his home every day when his son, a die-hard NBA 2K fan, played the game—Kerr and Marv Albert were the official voice actors. Kahn may still have a chance to make the leap from video games to real life. As the Warriors' coach confirmed, " It could still happen in the future."
When talks first started, it was believed that Paris Basketball was a possible NBA Europe candidate, but this was not the case. Sources close to the talks about the NBA Europe project confirmed to Eurohoops that the involvement of former Timberwolves GM David Kahn as Paris Basketball president was a problem for the US side.
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’s rise is a rapid one. American David Kahn, a former sports writer, lawyer and Minnesota Timberwolves president of basketball operations, bought the rights and absorbed the debts of a French second division team, Hyères-Toulon, and relocated them from the south of France to Paris in 2018. They were promoted to the French first division, known as the LNB elite, in 2021, and for the past two seasons have also competed in the EuroLeague — the premier basketball league on the continent. Kahn, unfortunately known for passing up on Stephen Curry twice in the 2009 NBA draft while at the Timberwolves, has created a harmonious culture in Paris, one where decision-makers are aligned and share the same vision, said Francesco Tabellini, Paris Basketball’s current head coach. Khan, the club’s president, general manager James Newman and co-owner Eric Schwartz are the teams decision makers. “I think he (David) has tried since Paris Basketball was established to bring coaches here that were playing fast basketball,” Tabellini told The Athletic from his Parisian office.
For months, the European basketball ecosystem has been rattling with speculation about the NBA’s plans. Clubs, leagues, broadcasters, and agents have all been tuning in to the same discussions. But the details remain elusive. Kahn, for one, can see the potential upside. “I think having the NBA, as I’ve said many times, involved in European basketball can only be positive. I’ll say it again: it can only be positive,” he says.
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Krawczynski reveals Kevin Love crumpled up the 4 year 60 million dollar contract extension he was offered by GM David Kahn and threw it in the garbage because it was not the 5 year max he expected and deserved at the time pic.twitter.com/M7jUZWDtJ9
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) November 14, 2025
Zach Lowe: I started at Sports Illustrated, then I went to Grantland. Bill [Simmons] was my boss for a long time. Made glorious fun of many people—including David Kahn. Some of those people took it well. Others did not. And some of those others liked to take out their rage against Bill… on Bill’s subordinates. At the Board of Governors meeting one year in New York, I was there. David Kahn was there representing the Timberwolves. Glenn Taylor was also there, but Kahn, I guess, was an alternate governor. I don’t know. I said, ‘You know what, there’s David Kahn. I’ve never met him before. I’m going to go introduce myself.’ Walk across the room. ‘Hey David, Zach Lowe, Grantland. Just wanted to put a face to a name, all that.’ I don’t know if I had made fun of him at some point, probably. He just looks me dead in the eyes and says: ‘Tell your boss he’s a f*ckin a**hole.’ And walks away. And I was like… ‘Okay. That’s how it’s going to be.’
Jorge Sierra: The last two coaches of Paris Basketball before this season (Tuomas Iisalo and Tiago Splitter) are NBA head coaches now. Both hired by former Wolves GM David Kahn, by the way. Just an FYI.
At an event that included a roundtable discussion titled “The NBA, a model for European basketball”, David Kahn predicted that in two years the NBA will have some sort of league in Europe. The former manager of the Minnesota Timberwolves and now president and co-owner of Paris Basketball was clear in his statement: “After our victory against Partizan Belgrade (74-71 on November 7), two people who are used to NBA games came to see me and tell me that it was the best game they had ever seen. That’s what we can sell, a product that has nothing to do with the NBA.”