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Par Guillaume Kagni | Journaliste sportif
With a few rare exceptions, Nicolas Batum has always been present for the French team at major international competitions. He explained the reasons for this legendary availability. There was a bit of popular pressure.
The beauty of the Paris Olympics for fans of the French basketball team wasn’t necessarily seeing Les Bleus staring Team USA in the face. What really stood out in the group led by Vincent Collet was the passing of the baton between this old golden generation, represented by Nicolas Batum, and the new one of Victor Wembanyama.
For his last competition, the emblematic captain of the national team was keen to do well, to show the Tricolor DNA to his successors. From now on, it’s up to Wemby, Bilal Coulibaly and all the other youngsters to take over and bring this magnificent jersey to the top. Above all, they’ll have to be as available as their elders.
Nicolas Batum honest about the French national team
For every summer or so, even as he went far in the playoffs during his Blazers years, Nicolas Batum chose to return to France and represent the country at major international competitions. During his appearance on the popular podcast “The Young Man and The Three”, Batman revealed the reasons behind this legendary reliability:
The group conversation we have with the French team alumni is always active. Sometimes for no reason at all. Before the last Olympics, I saw the figure that said LeBron hadn’t worn a Team USA jersey since 2012. We can’t do that. In France, if you miss a single summer, people kill you. The fans, the press, everyone. You need a very good reason to be absent.
Even if you’ve just had a child, the fans expect you to be back in the group. I have two children, and I missed the two summers after they were born. I was destroyed. After missing out on the 2008 Games, French basketball was in a very bad way. We decided to take things in hand and create this dynamic. We put more players in the NBA.
Nicolas Batum is part of the generation that put the French team back on the map in international competitions, and got fans used to Olympic medals. In fact, his presence for Les Bleus was not simply a question of putting his team back in the limelight. He was well aware that a missed summer always leads to fierce criticism in the media.
