By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Andrew Andrews’s saga with Panathinaikos continues as club owner Dimitris Giannakopoulos openly accused the guard of “blackmailing” the team with his persistence to stay registered in the Greek League despite not being considered to play. Andrews rejected the two most recent offers made by the Greens in the latest efforts to release the disgruntled player.
Panathinaikos was willing to cover the entire contract worth $250K in several installments and then offered $190K payable immediately, the sum of his contract for the 2022-23 season and next summer’s buy-out. On the opposite end of the talks, Andrews confirmed requiring a one-off payment of the two-year contract signed last July.
“We saw in the beginning that Andrews isn’t a good fit for us, we told him to go and find another team and, if you want, we’ll find you one. He’s paid in full like everyone. He has turned down all offers, including Venezia and 4-5 other offers,” said Dimitris Giannakopoulos.
Giannakopoulos added that he had a meeting with Andrew Andrews. Here’s what he wrote on Instagram (translated from Greek):
“He [Andrews] insists and says that if you don’t let me test myself in EuroLeague, I’m not leaving the Greek League roster. You can’t change him on your own, the player must accept it. So, he’s blackmailing. A team can have as many players as they want and as many registered players they are allowed to have. It’s a coach’s irremovable right to assess which player they’ll use. We made him an offer to take all of his money in advance and leave the team, but nothing happened. He told us: ‘I’m going to sit here and get back at those who brought me here and don’t use me’ I called him to my office and I told him that he’s right in everything, that we shouldn’t have brought you. We upset you and I apologize on behalf of everyone in the club. Take all the money and go. And he answered: “Thank you, I appreciate it but I’m not leaving.” So what can you do after that?“