Paris Basketball Brings Back Boungou-Colo in Hybrid Role

Some comebacks are also farewells. Paris Basketball has announced the return of Nobel Boungou-Colo with an unusual formula: the 38-year-old small forward will join the preseason camp and the start of the season, bringing his experience to the locker room, while the club studies whether he can reinforce a French second-division team in what would be his final season as a player.

Then comes the role change. Boungou-Colo will begin his first stint within a club's management structure, a step designed to transition toward life beyond the court.

A veteran with history at the club

The choice of Paris is no accident. The French international already wore that jersey in the 2020-21 season, when the club competed in the second division, and was one of the men who led them to promotion to the elite. That team is the foundation of the one competing in the EuroLeague today.

His recent trajectory has gone downhill, as befits a career winding down. Last season he played just three games with Blois, averaging 2.3 points and 2 rebounds. His last full season was 2023-24 in Saudi Arabia with Al Khaleej, where he posted impressive numbers: 20.2 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.4 steals in 21 games.

A résumé spanning more than a dozen clubs

Spanish fans will remember him from two specific stints: the 2017-18 season, split between Italian Torino and Real Betis, and the 2018-19 campaign, when he played for both Metropolitans 92 and Joventut Badalona.

His longest and most recognizable spell was at Limoges between 2012 and 2016, where he played in the EuroLeague and EuroCup and won two French league titles. Before that he had stints at Orleans, Hyères-Toulon and Le Mans, and later at Khimki, Antibes and Orleans again.