By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Behind Panathinaikos’ recent success at the 2024 EuroLeague Final Four, there’s a massive contribution from several people, including of course Ergin Ataman, his coaching staff, and all the players who turned into reality the dream of bringing the 7th star to Athens.
Enormous help came from the sporting director of the Greek powerhouse Sani Becirovic, a former EuroLeague player who spent time in OAKA from 2006 to 2008, who was in charge of building a team that could write history once again in Berlin.
Talking to Meridian Sport, the Slovenian expert revealed the role played by one of his countrymen in bringing Kendrick Nunn to Athens. “Goran Dragic helped me a lot there. At the time, Kendrick [Nunn] was training with Zoran Dragic in Miami, so Goran [Dragic] allowed me to explain everything to him”, he said about the former Miami Heat player, who shared the court with the American guard.
“He told him that we grew together in the national team, that he would be fine in Panathinaikos, and then I approached him and said that adapting to Europe is not easy, but that with the coach we have, we should be his first pick. It still wasn’t easy getting an important NBA player to leave Disneyland. That was the hardest”, he added.
Then, however, Dimitris Giannakopoulos decided to go all in. “Four teams were in that race, but the emotion of the president broke. Kendrick [Nunn] came and it was only a matter of time before all the qualities would surface because that man is really dominant. There were training sessions where we thought “What is this?”, Panathinaikos’ sporting director also shared.
Another player who massively contributed to the victory against Real Madrid was Mathias Lessort, who dominated all throughout the season. “It took a long time. At one point we were on the verge of giving up on the deal. But in the end, the president broke the bank – by increasing his contract”, he first said.
The center wanted to stay in Belgrade at first. “His love for black and white made negotiations difficult. But when we presented the project to him, along with the whole situation with Partizan [Belgrade]’s unfortunate elimination against Real Madrid in the playoffs, he realized that here he would have a faster opportunity to play in the Final Four”, Sani Becirovic added about the French center.
PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
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