By Vangelis Papadimitriou / info@eurohoops.net
Athens, Greece – Mateusz Ponitka finally found a EuroLeague contract and joined Panathinaikos after a great display with Poland in EuroBasket 2022.
The Polish leader became the 4th player in EuroBasket history to post a triple-double, but when he was playing against Slovenia he was still a member of Reggio Emilia, a team that will play in the Basketball Champions League and that now got a conspicuous buyout.
During the final of the 2022 Pavlos Giannakopoulos tournament, Mateusz Ponitka was present at OAKA and his addition to the team was announced just before the Panathinaikos game. Later on, he expressed his satisfaction in an interview with Eurohoops. “It’s amazing. I used to be here when there were the last games of Diamantidis and everybody knows the fans: they’re amazing. I’m really happy I can be part of this historical team and I hope we can do something nice this season”, he said.
While he was leading Poland a few days ago, he wished for a EuroLeague call to come, and in the end, it arrived from Greece. “When Panathinaikos wants you and calls for you, it’s not a hard decision. Taking into consideration the whole history of the club, it’s easy. I want to be part of this family and historic club”, he commented.
In Saint-Petersburg, he had the opportunity to know a little bit more about the Panathinaikos culture. “When I was playing in Zenit I had Manos Papadopoulos and Xavi Pascual with me and they always said amazing things about Panathinaikos. I was aware of what was going to happen when I came here, I knew how good this time was, the organization and the fans. It wasn’t a hard decision, really”, he added.
Mateusz Ponitka’s full words include his opinion on what this Panathinaikos team could experience in the 2022/2023 season and an appeal to the fans.