Par Joël Pütz | Journaliste sportif

He’s now been playing in the league for 17 seasons, and it’s clear he’s here to stay for at least another year. Nicolas Batum has played over 1.200 NBA games in his career, including playoffs and regular season games: an impressive total for any basketball player. The French forward began a remarkable career with the Blazers after being drafted in 2008.

While not necessarily playing a major role statistically, the former member of the French national team quickly found his place there, having started 75 of the 76 games of his rookie season in the starting five. This gave him the opportunity to rub shoulders with stars such as LaMarcus Aldridge and, above all, a certain Brandon Roy.

The then-starting Portland guard was on his way to becoming an exceptional player before health issues ended his career. Troubled by knee problems since the 2008-09 season, the superstar had nevertheless not hesitated to designate Batman as his successor, as the latter recently explained on the podcast The Young Man and the Three:

He helped me a lot my rookie year. I got there from France, didn’t know any English. I flew from France to the Northwest — the farthest team from Europe possible. But when I got there early in August and played those pickup games, I found a connection with him on the court right away, because that was my game, too. I mean, he and I had a connection.

When he got hurt, I know B-Roy said, “Start Nico.” I was 19. I didn’t know anything. And I pretty much started all year long just because of him. I was playing only with him, practice, on the bench, like, he was… it was huge. It was a big part of my career, for sure.

Another member of Rip City who had a profound impact on him was a certain Wesley Matthews, whose atypical and exemplary career served as a model for Batum:

I used to get my shots up, but him, it was like full-offseason, crazy workouts every single day. You could see it, like working on his game, like every day. And that kind of inspired me to do the same. Because, you know, at that time, I was kind of lazy. I used to rely just on my game and do my stuff. But the way he was working, and then his game, it was just… it was growing in front of our eyes. And then he went from undrafted to a solid starter.