Who said the UK wasn’t a land of basketball? Since the engagement of the London Lions in EuroCup on invitation, the English team seduces and attracts players capable of defending its interests on a continental scale. Among them, Kosta Koufos, the Greek spent ten years in the NBA. His teammates will also speak English, but not sure if the level is the same as in the United States.
It’s Tea Time! Well more seriously, it will be necessary – even before thinking about basketball – to think about acclimatizing to English gastronomy. Pudding, weird stuff from breakfast… the Greek salads will quickly be missed. Good go, we placed one for the food from across the Channel, everyone is happy. Regarding the orange ball, it was important to point out the arrival of Kosta Koufos at the London Lions. With this signature, the British team offers itself a great additional experience which remains at 33 a very interesting basketball player. To play the EuroCup in any case, since the English championship is not really a model of competitiveness. It even seems that they play soccer players in Manchester. As a reminder, Kosta was drafted in 23rd position in the 2008 Draft by the Jazz, and will sail for ten years at the Zétazunis, from Utah to Sacramento via Memphis, where he will send his best career season with eight points on average. A rotation player in short, but who will undoubtedly have a lot of responsibilities in London. The info comes from Marc Stein, always well informed and even on these transfers of capital importance for the basketball planet.
11-year NBA veteran Kosta Koufos is finalizing a deal with the @LondonLionsleague sources say, bringing an established name to British basketball. The Lions are a @FIBA EuroCup team and employ Grizzlies alum Brett Burman as their GM.
More NBA from me: https://t.co/LGN9cV7Dif
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 13, 2022
But besides, how is it that London has a ticket for the EuroCup without being a stronghold of European basketball? Well Jamy, several things explain this. First of all, you should know that the competition depends on the EuroLeague, which has the power to select the teams that will participate. In this spirit, several wildcards were distributed to various European teams. In this list? London therefore, but also Paris Basketball and JL Bourg. These teams have not sportingly won the right to participate in the European Cup since they finished 15th and 11th respectively in Betclic Elite this season, but the idea is well established. Both London and Paris are big cities and therefore potential big markets on a continental scale. Allowing them to participate in such an event is a way of getting them into a positive sporting spiral: by having a right of entry, higher caliber players will be attracted and the team will be strengthened in the medium term. For Bourg-en-Bresse on the other hand, rumors say that it was a splash splash with Cholet. We’re joking, but the fact remains that Kosta Koufos will be able to bring his talents back to Ain for the time of a match and that LeBronesque is this sentence, it remains magnificent to read.
Kosta Koufos in London, deal done! It’s far from being the news of the year, but it’s a bit like our Free Agency to us Europeans. The fact remains that we can now see him play with the English and especially everywhere on the continent, as for two years since he has already been traveling the roads of the EuroLeague since 2019.
Source : Twitter @MarcStein