By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Yam Madar’s agent Misko Raznatovic issued a response to Partizan Belgrade’s announcement regarding the Israeli guard’s departure from the team to sign with Fenerbahce Beko.
Partizan accused Madar of unilaterally terminating his contract and said that the club will make all necessary legal moves since they weren’t compensated. In a letter to Serbian news agency Tanjung, Raznatovic mentions that Partizan and his client initially agreed to a contract extension but the procedure took an ugly turn after he asked for a raise and this is what led to the player’s exit from the 2023 ABA League champions.
Here’s Raznatovic’s full letter, per B92:
“I had absolutely no intention of commenting on anything related to the Yam Madar situation, even though I am the target of rude attacks, which is in my job description for 28 years. However, bearing in mind the untrue claims from the latest announcement by KK Partizan, I am forced to react primarily as an admirer of all basketball fans who are surely interested in what really happened.
The facts are as follows: I did not participate in drawing up the contract between Madar and Partizan, nor in the written communication, nor do I have any knowledge about whether the emails ended up in spam folders. My job was to arrange a new contract when the player was informed from America that he was a free agent. There is no doubt that it was a logical choice to continue with Partizan, bearing in mind a bigger role in the ABA finals, and I instructed him to have a conversation with Željko Obradović, which Yam did. He came from Israel, had a conversation, and decided to stay.
Madar accepted that the termination be annulled and remain under the old contract, however, the club no longer wanted that and insisted that the contract be extended so that after the season played, he could receive compensation either from Europe or from the NBA. Quite legitimate.
After several days of persuasion, the player accepted the extension and I asked the club, by message on Friday, July 7th at 9:12, for an increase of $75,000 in the first year. Also legitimate and very modest. I received a reply from the club at 9:15 that it’s great impudence by Yam and that in principle there is no increase.
In the following days, there was very ugly communication, there were mild threats and there was no turning back. The epilogue of the story is that Yam Madar signed a contract with a new club for an incomparably higher amount than what he was willing to pay to stay in Partizan, so there was more cultured behavior and goodwill on the part of the club.
Partizan was offered two options: for the player to remain under the current contract without an extension or to increase the amount in the first year by 75,000 and get a contract extension. By writing a statement about sending “emails to the junk”. The fierce reaction to the termination of cooperation only further shows the club’s awareness of the inappropriate conduct of negotiations and the actions of the man who dealt with it and the mistakes that were made. As for the termination of cooperation, of course, I regret it, bearing in mind that it is one of the biggest European clubs, but if that is the price that must be paid in order to work professionally and protect the interests of the players, I am ready to pay it.”