Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot could totally be mobilizing basketball fans in the Chicago area right now. Just like Giannis gets huge crowds of Greeks at every arena he visits, just like Goran Dragic and Luka Doncic get small cadres of Slovenians, just like Jokic brings out the Serbs everywhere he goes, so too could TLC attract French people to both home games and away games. They could sing French songs, wave the French flag, chant stuff in French (peacefully, of course), and maybe even bring out the baguettes and smelly cheese.
The problem is, I don’t think French people care about Luwawu-Cabarrot. And why should they? He’s been total garbo this season outside of a few games where he was just average. So far, the quality of his play on the Bulls is higher than his play on the Thunder, but that doesn’t mean much because he was quite possibly one of the worst players in the league while he was in OKC.
French people aren’t necessarily all about winning, but they don’t support losers either. They probably are still attached to Tony Parker even though that dude is older than the aged French wine that my parents got as a present before I was born and still haven’t drunk. If French people have given up on Parker, they’ve reattached themselves to Rudy Gobert. TLC doesn’t get any love because he doesn’t deserve any. That’s just how it is.
Now I’m thinking about how much it would cost to drive down to a Bulls home game and sit courtside with a French flag that I wave every time TLC does something. It would probably cost a lot. But at least then TLC would feel like he has something to play for other than his own contracts. I just would have to hope that no news outlet tries to interview me and I out myself as a fake French person.