The Portland Trail Blazers and Memphis Grizzlies have both had low moments to navigate this season. When the two meet on Dec. 7 it may not be a box office matchup, but in Paris, France, the game will have plenty of keen observers.
Paris Basketball were the champions of France last season and won a European trophy in 2024. The NBA took notice and the two coaches who achieved those respective feats are now on the sidelines in the NBA.
Both the Grizzlies’ Tuomas Iisalo and the Trail Blazers’ Tiago Splitter bolstered their resumes at the Parisian club. They left for the NBA as assistants at their respective franchises before being promoted to head coach.
Iisalo was the head coach who guided Paris Basketball to EuroCup victory in 2024 with a competition record-setting 128.5 offensive rating in Europe’s second-tier professional league. Splitter, who succeeded Iisalo in the French capital, made history by winning the French championship and French Cup in his only season with the team. He also secured qualification to the EuroLeague play-offs as Paris Basketball became the first French team to do so.
“They both have tremendous ability as basketball coaches and people who can lead an organisation,” Paris basketball assistant coach Julius Thomas, who worked under both, told The Athletic. “Knowing them both, I’m not surprised at all (they ended up in the NBA).”
But how did a team only founded in 2018 produce two NBA head coaches? What legacy did they leave behind in France and how did the challenges they faced in Paris mould them?
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.
Paris Basketball’s players celebrate after winning the French Elite Championship Final 5 Basketball match against AS Monaco Basket on June 24, 2025. (Thomas Samson / AFP via Getty Images)
Tabellini, a 42-year-old from Italy, joined Paris from the Czech team Nymburk, where he won two league titles and reached the quarterfinals of the FIBA Basketball Champions League (BCL), an annual competition run by basketball’s world governing body.
“They recruited me because of the numbers of last season, not only because of the success that we had in the BCL, but my team last year, numbers-wise, were the fastest pace team in Europe, so I think that was simply the reason they wanted me here,” Tabellini added.
Iisalo, who joined Paris after winning the BCL with German club Telekom Baskets Bonn with fast-paced basketball, simplified his high-speed approach when speaking on the X&O’s YouTube channel in January: “If you get more shots than the other team and you make them at a better percentage, you are winning 100 percent of the games.”
Under both Iisalo and Spitter, Paris became known for how quickly they got up and down the court and, as well as being an entertaining brand of basketball, it led to success. The increase in pace mirrors a similar trend in the NBA.
The hustle of the team remains clear from the fact that they lead the EuroLeague in offensive rebounds and steals after 11 games, allowing for more opportunities to get shots up — resulting in a league-high mark for three-pointers attempted (34.4 per game).
This tactical alignment is a way of competing with teams with higher budgets. Paris basketball told The Athletic they have a budget of €27.9 million ($32.1m; £24.54m), with €7.9 million spent on player and coach salaries, which is mid-table in EuroLeague context.
Last year’s budget was €18 million, Paris Basketball said. According to L’Equipe last season they made €9.75 million on ticket sales, having moved to the 9,000-capacity Adidas Arena last February, and €4.3 million in sponsorship revenues.
“Since I became a head coach, my teams have always tried to be better in terms of defense, effort, rebounding and pace. Those things are pretty tightly connected with the commitment and the desire and the effort of the players, and the tempo/ pace is just one of the aspects. It’s not the only one, it’s just a consequence of playing harder than opponents,” Tabellini said.
Francesco Tabellini on the sidelines during a match between Paris Basketball and Virtus Bologna at the Adidas Arena on October 9, 2025. (Anne-Christine Poujoulat / AFP via Getty Images)
Associate head coach Thomas has been at the club since moving with Iisalo from Telekom Baskets Bonn, Germany, in 2023 as a 25-year-old coach, along with six players, including star American guard TJ Shorts II.
“We might recruit players, people around the team, support staff who are just energetic people that love doing things collectively, together and fast,” Thomas told The Athletic after conducting practice, which he says are intense but short sessions. “The players, but also staff and coaches, pull on the same string. I think that’s so underrated. So much is always about the tactical side of basketball, but it’s about the human interactions and relations between us. To me, it has been by far the best thing about working here.”
It is under this culture that Iisalo and Splitter, who played under one of the best NBA coaches of all time in Gregg Popovich while at the San Antonio Spurs, thrived.
“Iisalo is a basketball geek who likes to implement stuff from the outside, follows basketball, and tries to generate new ideas. Super creative,” said Thomas. “And Splitter is a very caring and warm person, just super nice to be around. He really connects well with the players on an interpersonal level.”
Iisalo banned phones from team activities at Paris, such as at meals and practices, which is still a policy to this day at the club.
Iisola explained on the X&Os podcast: “When I coach the team, I am not Tuomas, who is a very easygoing guy. But when practice starts, when I am doing my job, that’s Coach Iisola. And Coach Iisola is a very intolerable guy when it comes to anything that gets in the way of winning, and that guy is never satisfied with anything and just wants more, but I can switch between these two modes.”
Tuomas Iisalo talks with Ja Morant during the first half against the Dallas Mavericks on November 7, 2025. (Wes Hale / Getty Images)
Asked whether Paris’ style could work in the NBA, Tabellini said: “Creating this coincidence of vision, being on the same page, is the most important thing. Once the club (or franchise) is giving itself the targets and goals, not only results-wise but culture-wise, then as a coach you need to do everything you can to hold people accountable to those standards to help the whole team and organisation.”
“Superstars in the NBA, I think they are pretty, not only powerful, but also, really taken into consideration by the club, by the fans and media, and have a huge responsibility for the culture that the club is going to be able to create,” Tabellini added. “If a franchise wants to play uptempo basketball, it should recruit a very fast roster and a superstar who likes playing fast, because it’s going to be easier to sell to the players. Otherwise, the coach’s job is becoming pretty complicated.
“In life, sharing the vision is the crucial thing. Ideas are super nice, but I like it when the ideas are shared and when people can push those ideas to the limit, because if not all people are pushing in the same direction, the idea stays as something less powerful than it could be.”
Creating and maintaining a culture can be harder in the NBA than in Europe. In recent weeks, Iisalo’s Grizzlies have not looked aligned, starting the season with a losing record. Ja Morant appeared to criticize the coaching staff after a 117-112 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Nov. 1 and was subsequently suspended for a game.
Iisalo’s task will be to get the Grizzlies back on the same page, a team with two All-Star caliber players in Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr., the 2023 Defensive Player of the Year, and one that finished last season with a 48-34 record in the Western Conference to reach the playoffs.
Tiago Splitter calls play during the first quarter at Moda Center on October 24, 2025 in Portland, Oregon. (Tom Hauck / Getty Images)
This leaves Iisalo under more pressure to win than Splitter, who took over the Portland Trail Blazers on an interim basis on Oct. 23 after then-head coach Chauncey Billups was arrested as part of a federal investigation into illegal gambling. The Blazers have not been in the playoffs since 2020-21 and will want to develop their young prospects, such as Scoot Henderson, Deni Avdija, and 2025 NBA draft pick, Yang Hansen.
Once the butt of a joke on ESPN’s First Take as a player, Splitter won his first game as an NBA head coach against the Golden State Warriors and has already recorded wins over the Los Angeles Lakers, Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder.
It was an unfortunate way to become head coach at the Blazers, but his time in Paris prepared him for his opportunity, telling the YouTube channel SKWEEK in February that Paris gave him the chance to become a head coach when he felt he was being “labelled as a big guys coach or assistant coach.”
“He came here and found a way to keep improving on the base that Iisalo set, and building on that. So that was nothing but great,” Thomas said.
Thomas already has his calendar marked for Dec. 7 to watch his two former colleagues go head-to-head.
“I’m in touch with both of them. I’m super happy when they get wins. Because we have experienced it together, I know how they feel,” he said. “When they play each other, I will be very neutral. I’m super proud to be able to have worked with two NBA coaches and see them strive.”
