By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Speaking to “Sportal.rs” of Serbian news portal “Blic”, the Serbian League director Aleksandar Grujin expressed his surprise at the decision of Partizan to forfeit the Serbian league playoffs and also admitted that the club is in danger of being relegated two divisions in a scenario which is pretty similar to the decision of Olympiacos to be relegated back in 2019.
As Grujin said: “Honestly, we are very surprised by this decision of Partizan. There is absolutely no single reason for such a thing. This caused huge, exceptional damage to Serbian basketball, the league, but also to the state of Serbia, which invests a lot in our sport”.
The independent judge of the league can decide the relegation of Partizan by two divisions and Grujin implied that this will end up being the case: “As I said, absolutely all acts and articles of the rulebook will be applied”.
According to Grujin, Partizan has not made yet any official move toward the league, informing them of their decision: “There was no official notice from BC Partizan. However, sometime in April, that campaign started in the media against the league, various spins. I don’t know if it is connected with not realizing the club’s ambitions, but it is indicative that it started after the game with Bursa. Of course, we are open to all of Partizan’s proposals, but asking for the final four instead of the playoffs two months before the start is completely out of all logic and procedure. So, it is not a problem to suggest something, but the timing is controversial here”.
Considering the precedent of Olympiacos is unclear how such a decision may affect the status of Partizan in the ABA League, or in their quest to get a EuroLeague wildcard since both ABA and EuroLeague are private leagues.