Sport

Intesa Sanpaolo: Official Partner of the NBA Italy

Intesa Sanpaolo is an official partner of the NBA in Italy: a collaboration that best enhances the universal and contemporary values that both entities protect and promote.

The NBA returned to Europe in January 2025 for the NBA Paris Games presented by Tissot

The National Basketball Association has returned to play a regular season game in Europe for the first time since 2020, a must-see event for all NBA enthusiasts and first-timers. Paris has become the European capital of basketball, with many activities designed for fans. Among these, some lucky Italian fans, during the 2023 edition of the NBA Paris Games, had the opportunity to meet and chat with Richard "Rip" Hamilton, one of the many NBA Legends in the French capital for the game. The NBA champion spoke about his career and his love for basketball, the reason why he still travels the world to promote this sport and encourage young people to dream big and set ambitious goals.

This year's edition featured a great addition. In fact, during the NBA Paris Games 2025 presented by Tissot, two regular season games were played for the first time in the French capital, on 23 and 25 January 2025, between San Antonio Spurs and Indiana Pacers. In the first match, the Texans triumphed, winning 140 to 110, while two days later the Pacers bounced back, with a victorious 136 to 98 in front of the lively French audience.

Paris has once again become the European capital of basketball with a host of activities for the many supporters who animated the city during the event, such as the NBA House created for the occasion. To get a feel for the atmosphere of the NBA Paris Games 2025 presented by Tissot, we were accompanied by content creator Alessandro Santaterra, who interviewed some fans, and NBA Legend Jalen Rose, who explained the importance of this event for the League, and the values that basketball embodies.

NBA 2025: 75 Years of Sports, Entertainment, and Inclusivity

The journey of the NBA, the most famous professional league in the world, began in New York, in the years right after WWII. The great driving force of basketball immediately became an important tool of social and cultural integration, thus anticipating the times of the other major American sports leagues.

In fact, unlike what happened, for example, in the college leagues, from the very first years, there were numerous African-American and foreign players on the rosters of the teams. This immediately gave rise to an important integration movement and highlighted the cosmopolitan and forward-thinking nature of the whole Association.

Since its founding, the NBA has become a universal symbol of sport and participation, reaching millions of spectators and fans in every corner of the planet. At the tip of the iceberg of this ever-growing global interest, there was what happened on the court, which made the previous decades engaging and full of stories to narrate, redefining the outlines of modernity.

The first big names, capable of catalysing media attention and making basketball a popular phenomenon inside and outside the US, were the Minneapolis Lakers and the Boston Celtics. The latter, in particular, with the strength of a roster that became legendary, established a real sports dynasty, which won eleven titles in thirteen seasons, and which gave planetary fame to the famous Leprechaun that stands out in the team's logo. The figure celebrates the Irish and working-class soul of the city of Boston, always a preferred destination for migrants on the other side of the Channel, and represents yet another example of a League attentive to local and cultural particularities.

Every decade, therefore, it has told unique challenges, full of sporting and human epics, showing a glimpse of the American society and its sports habits.

NBA: a story of inclusivity and integration

An aura of greatness and excellence for an Association that for almost 75 years has been relentlessly expanding its geographical and cultural boundaries, promoting, through the events on the court, the highest values of inclusiveness and solidarity.

To date, the NBA has consolidated its international positioning, with games and entertainment programs broadcast in 215 different countries and translated into more than 50 languages. This growth was achieved both from a media point of view and a sporting point of view, considering that at the start of the current season there were 43 different nationalities represented on the rosters of the teams, with the record number of 125 international players.Yet, its attention to the main social issues and the great investments it makes all over the world for the development of education, family, and health, through the work of NBA Cares are the factors that make the Association a model.

Integration and vision of the future, for an organization that has become synonymous with both spectacle and progress, as the different souls that make up the League tell. Alongside the iconic NBA logo, in fact, in addition to the National Basketball Association, there is also the Women's League, called WNBA, the development League, called the G League, and the NBA 2K League, which promotes E-Sports. The NBA and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) also jointly operate the Basketball Africa League (BAL). A complex and fascinating universe, with which Intesa Sanpaolo is proud to collaborate, and that promotes universal and forward-thinking values, which perfectly reflect the Group's mission.

The basketball court of Piazza d'Armi in Turin

The partnership between the Group and the NBA underlines the objective of using sport as a tool to improve the quality of life and promote social collaboration. This commitment is reflected in the redevelopment of the Piazza d'Armi basketball court, completed by Intesa Sanpaolo in November 2021 with the support of the NBA. The renovated playground becomes a sports and social hub, destined to promote dialogue and community gathering for present and future generations of Turin residents.