Eyes raised to the sky, Kylian Mbappé smiles.
On the famous screens of Times Square in New York, he sees from the bitumen the image of his latest campaign for Nike displayed on a large scale.
"To have this recognition around the world is special," he told BFM TV.
We took a moment to take pictures there.
" All the same.
👉 Kylian Mbappé's reaction to his huge photo exhibited in Times Square
📺 Excerpt from a long interview with Jean-Baptiste Boursier in New York, to discover in full this Friday at 7 p.m. on @BFMTV pic.twitter.com/Xix5GoHSE1
– BFMTV (@BFMTV) June 24, 2022
Passing through the Big Apple, therefore, the Parisian striker was a little anticipating the start of the school year, when he should resume training in two weeks in Paris.
On the night of Thursday to Friday, the Bondynois was the star guest of the NBA draft, high mass of the end of the season in basketball during which the thirty teams of the championship share the new recruits by drawing lots.
A “unique experience”, he confessed to BeIN Sports.
“To come there, to see the emotion of the drafted players, these are unique moments, it is priceless.
For them, it's something unique, we don't have that in football.
You guys feel like they've been waiting for this moment their whole lives.
It's even stronger than a pro contract.
»
On all terrains
In addition to his affection for basketball, which he has already been able to show by attending NBA games or during meetings with legend LeBron James, the Bondynois was also and above all in the United States in representation.
"I'm here because my production box has signed a partnership with the NBA and it was an opportunity to announce it to the world," he told BeIN Sports.
This Friday, the National Basketball Association confirmed "a long-term partnership" with Zebra Valley, the production company set up by the Mbappé family and whose launch was announced on June 15, at the same time as a partnership with the American agency WME Sports.
🤝 The NBA and Zebra Valley – the newly-created production company of FIFA World Cup winner, France National Team member and Paris-Saint Germain forward Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) – today announced a multiyear content creation partnership that will engage fans around the world 🤝 pic.twitter.com/nWqFkWCOgD
— NBA (@NBA) June 24, 2022
The partnership, inaugurated during the draft which the Paris Saint-Germain striker attended with 15 young French people from his foundation, will aim to create content that "brings football and basketball fans together by telling the stories that matter. ".
For the young Mbappé box, this first announcement of partnership with a license with worldwide repercussions will open the doors of the American public a little more.
A public which, in parallel with the development of Major League Soccer (MLS), the local championship, is more and more interested in this still relatively minor sport across the Atlantic.
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Behind the scenes of the event, his presence was widely highlighted and relayed by the official channels of the American basketball league.
Mbappé will be able to rely as much on the power of the NBA as the NBA on the growing influence of the PSG striker, which always extends a little further beyond the limits of football.
We were able to see him chain the baskets with dexterity on an arcade machine, juggle with a basketball behind the scenes of the draft or even give his opinion on his team, the Lakers, at the microphone of ESPN.
Showing once again that he is no longer just a unique talent on the pitch, but also versatile and capable off it.
