The last taboos fell long ago and the transit of players became routine, in increasing numbers and in both directions, between the nba and the euroleague, the second best club competition in the world.
The Americans who do not find a place in the great League of their country travel to Europe, sometimes to win a return to the other side of the Atlantic and other times to settle in an Old Continent whose young people also take the leap to the United States with less and less pomp. If things don’t work out, they come back. Also, in his case, without closing the door to other opportunities in the NBA. This coming and going, with the conditions that the times and deadlines of each market bring, is a new reality that influences the two competitions… but not in the same way: many times, a butterfly flaps its wings in the NBA and causes an earthquake in the Euroleague.
In this 2022-23 Euroleague there are seventeen players who had minutes in the 2021-22 NBA. Three (Isaac Bonga, Cassius Winston, and Freddie Gillespie) They are in Bayern that receives Real Madrid today, which in turn has one: the French Petr Cornelie. The list could grow soon, of course, with all eyes on a Facundo Campazzo that will solve your future in the next few days with the white team and the Red Star as the main options.
Red Star is precisely a clear example of the effect that returnees can have on their new teams: the Argentine Luca Vildoza is one of the big stars (13 points, 4.2 assists and a PIR of 12.1) in a team that he joined in mid-October and that, with Dusko Ivanovic as a revulsion on the bench, has won its last five games in the Euroleague. Panathinaikos is another that started very badly and is on a roll (four wins in a row) largely thanks to Dwyane Bacon. The American forward nailed it at Monaco last season, tried to return to the NBA and, with no options with the season started, he returned to Europe at the end of October. There is always a market for players like him. He averages with the Athens squad, without the need for adaptation, 20.3 points and a PIR of 17.3 in the top continental competition.
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Isaac Bonga is the most significant of those former NBA players with whom Real Madrid will face off this afternoon in Munich. German of Congolese origin, his parents settled in a country where they were initially going to be in transit on their way to Canada, he is only 23 years old and has spent four years trying in the United States before returning to Europe with a two-year contract with Bayern. He is a 2.03 player but who handles the ball, a point guard/forward who defends in all positions and whose physique made him an NBA target from a very young age.
He was chosen with number 39 in the 2018 Draft and made his debut on December 7 of that year, wearing no less than the Lakers jersey. Then he went through the Development League, the Wizards, the Raptors and, fed up with not having stability and minutes, this summer he returned to Europe. With a whole sporting life ahead of him, another jump to the NBA would once again be an option for him if he succeeds in Europe. It is the law of these times in a totally global basketball. So far, he’s averaging 6.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and a 6.4 PIR.
THIS IS HOW THEY ARRIVE
b.munich
real Madrid
