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Among the several road trips that the Chicago Bulls have on the calendar this season, one in particular will take them across the pond. The Bulls will take on the Detroit Pistons next season in an NBA game to be held in Paris, France.
The game will be held on January 19, 2023. It will constitute one of Chicago's 41 road games and will conversely count as a home game for the opposing Detroit squad. It's the third time that the Bulls will play a sanctioned game in Paris and the first one in two and a half decades.
The last time they played there, a certain Michael Jordan was still donning the Bulls' red and white threads.
Bulls are headed back to Paris! 🇫🇷
The Bulls last played in Paris in 1997 as part of a six team pre-season tournament at @Accor_Arena! #NBAParis | @NBAFrance pic.twitter.com/899FI50Zve
— Chicago Bulls Archive (@BullsArchive) May 24, 2022
The Chicago Bulls are one of the most widely recognizable teams around the globe, thanks in large part to the Michael Jordan-led dynasty of the nineties. Although His Airness is long retired, the Bulls remain one of the fan favorite teams around the world.
Via NBC Sports Chicago's Rob Schaefer:
“It is a great honor to bring Chicago Bulls basketball back to Paris for The NBA Paris Game 2023 — an event that illustrates the league's commitment to amplifying the national and global impact of basketball,” Bulls executive vice president Artūras Karnišovas said in a statement.
Interestingly enough, Karnišovas actually played against the Bulls during that preseason tournament back in 1997. He led Europe's then-top team Olympiakos in scoring with 19 in a 104-78 defeat against Chicago. Jordan led the visitors with 27 points of his own.
This time around, the game is set to count in the win-loss column, which surely ups the stakes for Parisian spectators set to catch the contest.