Boris Diaw talks Victor Wembanyama, Kobe Bryant, winning a title at 42 and more

NBA champion Boris Diaw spoke with HoopsHype this week about his current projects, the future of the French National Team, the GOAT debate, and some of the great players he had to guard during his successful career in the NBA.

How big is the NBA in France right now?

BD: I think France has one of Europe's biggest numbers of NBA fans, we have a lot of people who follow the NBA here. A lot of fans obviously became Spurs fans during the Tony Parker era, when he got drafted there and won the championship there, and everything he did at that time. So we have a big NBA fan base and a big Spurs fan base here in Paris. So everybody's very excited to see the NBA games happening now, especially regular season games, that are different than the preseason games that were played in Paris before.

Will France beat Team USA in Los Angeles 2028?

BD: I don't know [laughs], 2028 is still far away, we're in 2025, and a lot can happen in three years. Obviously, we'll try to get better and try to get the National Team improving year after year. And, yeah, it's a new generation, new young guys... We're gonna try to get ready and play the next competition in the next few years, and try to grow and be as good as possible. So yeah, maybe one day win a title.

It's been a long time, 20 years since Argentina won the gold medal in the 2004 Olympics in Greece. Can Victor Wembanyama lead the team to a gold medal? It could be one of the proudest moments in French sports history.

BD: He will be a big piece, but it's not about one guy. You need different pieces, and different players doing different things on the court to go in there and win. We'll see what happens.

How confident are you about his future in the NBA playing for a franchise that you know so well?

BD: I think San Antonio is good for him because they can protect him, help him grow at his own pace, and yeah, he's already improving, getting better every year. And so he has great, great, great potential, and he'll just keep improving. We don't know how far he can go, you know, what's the ceiling, so everybody's just watching and trying to help him grow as well, and he's doing a great job personally as well.

Who's the opponent you had to be extra ready before facing him on the court during your 14-year career?

BD: A lot, basically one for every team! [Laughs] But the guys that I had the toughest time guarding in my career when I was playing small forward, probably it was Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady. They were the two toughest guys to guard when I was playing outside, and then when I was playing power forward later in my career, it was Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki. Those two guys were the hardest to guard.

We still remember your IG post when you won the title in 2014. Which type of wine would you be?

BD: A Bordeaux wine, of course. I grew up in Bordeaux, where there's a great wine culture. So I would be an older Bordeaux wine that ages well.

GOAT debate: A silly one, or do you have a candidate?

BD: I think it's silly. You cannot compare different generations. I think you can pick a GOAT like for every 10 years. Like the GOAT of the 80s, the GOAT of the 90s, 00s... I don't think you can compare the NBA in the 80s with the NBA in the 2010s. It's different games, different rules, different ways to referee. It's just very different.

Who was the GOAT of your generation then? A tough decision between your teammate Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant?

BD: [Laughs] That's tough. But yeah, for me, it was so hard to guard Kobe at some point that... He was the one in our generation, he was amazing. But obviously, I love TD and he was an amazing teammate. So if I had to pick the GOAT of teammates it would be TD, I think he was a better teammate.

Last summer you won the Landes Cup, a competition full of 40-year-old players

BD: Well, it's really tough to explain, because you really gotta live it to understand it. Basically it was a local cup. So it's something that's not usually big in most of the of the counties. It was the cup of the county. The county of the Landes is very big, and everybody takes it very seriously. A lot of people, a lot of tension, there's like great rivalries. So it was just an amazing competition to play. And I always heard about it when I was young, and always looked at it, I was really looking at playing it one day. And so whatever chance I'd take, and it happened. And even though I was 42 it was like 'OK, let's get my old teammates and basically try to use that as an excuse to see some old friends, share some meals, and have a great time.'

How important has Gregg Popovich been in your life?

BD: He is a great, great coach and a great mentor. A person who has done so much for this franchise, and the teams that he's coached. So during my time there, I felt that Spurs culture, the Spurs family, and Pop was just a big part of it. I had a great time.

This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Boris Diaw talks Victor Wembanyama, Kobe Bryant, winning a title at 42 and more