Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs are set to play the Indiana Pacers in a two-game series in Paris, starting on Thursday. It will serve as a homecoming of sorts for Wembanyama, who is a French native and recently helped lead the French national team to a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics last summer.

In the lead up to the two matchups, Wembanyama has been busy showing his teammates around his home country and giving back to the community, which was highlighted by a court unveiling in his hometown. The first game of this series tips off at 2 p.m. ET on Thursday, and the second game is on Saturday. In the meantime, here’s everything you need to know about the matchup and all the fanfare surrounding it.

Spurs vs. Pacers info

Time: 2 p.m ET | Date: Thursday, Jan. 23
Location: Accor Arena — Paris, France
TV channel: NBA TV | Streaming: fubo (Try it for free)

Wembanyama’s first NBA game in Paris

The NBA might as well call this week “Wemby Week” as he’s been the central focus of this entire ordeal, and rightfully so. Wembanyama entered the NBA as the most heralded prospect since LeBron James, and has quickly lived up to the hype just 1.5 years into his career. This marks the first time Wembanyama will suit up for the Spurs in his home country, so obviously, there is a ton of excitement around it.

All week, the Spurs big man has been seen around Paris and his hometown of Le Chesnay. He’s been helping with basketball clinics, donating basketball courts that he designed and showing his teammates his local stomping grounds. He even arranged a dinner for his teammates on the first night they spent in Paris.

“[Gregg Popovich] had a schedule here, you know. I know he would have done something like that, too,” Wembanyama said. “Doing that on the first day was important for me. It was a welcome to my team to show them because I know if I went to any of these guys’ country or city, I would have got to find out about where they come from to learn to know them better because they’re all good human beings. It’s a real chance to share these moments together.”

NBA stacking up regular season games in Paris

These two games will mark the fourth and fifth time the NBA will play regular season games in Paris, all of which have happened since 2020. The league has played dozens of preseason games in Paris, 90+ games to be exact, but it wasn’t until recently that the league started holding regular season games there. Last season the Cavaliers and Nets took the trip, while the Bulls and Pistons and Bucks and Hornets were the previous two matchups before that. But never has the league spent a two-game series in Paris, until now.

The reason is obvious, as Wembanyama is being marketed as one of the future faces of the next generation of the NBA. But it goes beyond the reigning Rookie of the Year. France produces the most NBA players outside of the United States and Canada, with 14 in the league this season, the most ever for the country. France also became the first country outside of the United States to have two players selected No. 1 overall in back-to-back drafts, as Wemby was the top selection in 2023, and Zaccharie Risacher went first to the Hawks in 2024. The league sees that France is becoming a hotspot for basketball and NBA talent, and these Paris games are a great way to acknowledge that.

Don’t sleep on the Pacers

The Spurs might get all the attention, and both matchups will likely be home games for San Antonio, but that doesn’t mean Indiana is going to make it easy on them. Indiana is coming into these two matchups as winners of 8 of their last 10 games. Since the new year, Indiana has had the second best win percentage in the league.

Pascal Siakam has led the charge for the Pacers, while Tyrese Haliburton seems to be rounding back into his All-Star form. Haliburton struggled with efficiency to start the season, but in January, he’s posting season-best numbers, shooting 50% from the field and 40.7% from 3-point range while averaging 19 points in eight games. It’s not quite the same numbers as he had a season ago when he made Third Team All-NBA, but it’s a significant improvement from how he was playing a month ago.

With those two at the helm and a defense that has been fourth in the league this month, the Pacers are well positioned to win both of these games, even in an environment that heavily favors the Spurs.