By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
There’s a fundamental turning point in Thomas Heurtel’s career. In the summer of 2022, he decided to sign with Zenit Saint Petersburg to join Xavi Pascual, a head coach capable of exalting point guard’s abilities. However, that settlement conditioned his national team presence.
The French basketball federation decided to ban from its national team all the players who moved to the VTB League following the Russian invasion of Ukraine; the same applied to Livio Jean-Charles and Louis Labeyrie, who respectively signed with CSKA Moscow and UNICS Kazan back then.
Now, after two years in which he exalted his individual showing domestically in Russia, as the International representatives from the country were excluded by the EuroLeague, the 35-year-old French point guard is looking forward to starting a new chapter of his career.
“It was a very good experience with a good organization overall. We didn’t reach the main goal which was winning the VTB League, but we won the Russian Cup and the Supercup twice. I had many other individual awards”, he told Eurohoops about his two years living in Saint Petersburg.
Surely, he wasn’t completely sure prior to moving to Russia. “Before getting there, we were scared. In my first season, we had to adjust. But once the second season arrived, we had a stable routine, and everything was great. We didn’t have any problems in Saint Petersburg, we didn’t feel pressure. People embraced me like family”, he replied when asked if the war was affecting his everyday life.
A key factor in his transfer to Zenit Saint Petersburg surely was Xavi Pascual. “The relationship was great, and he was one of the main reasons why I went there. I knew him from the past when he was in Barcelona and even in Panathinaikos. He’s one of the greatest coaches in Europe”, he said.
“I knew he was going to let me have freedom and be me. Tactically he’s very good, we matched very well. We had a lot of injuries, but overall it was a good experience and I had a very good relationship with Xavi [Pascual”, Thomas Heurtel added about the Catalan mastermind, who also worked with other pick-and-roll specialists in the past, like Ricky Rubio, Nick Calathes, and Kevin Pangos.
During his time in the VTB, he also faced Nenad Dimitrijevic, who will now play in the EuroLeague with Milan. “During my first year in Russia, you could tell he was playing okay, but he had a lot of ups and downs. But last season he had a very good season, that’s why Milano signed him. He deserves everything he has now, to be in the EuroLeague and to try to be the same Nedo he was in Kazan”, he said.
Coming back to the national team: reality or utopia?
This summer could have been very different for Thomas Heurtel, who watched his countrymen become silver medalists at the Olympic Games hosted at home in Paris. It was a sweet and sour feeling, considering he spent almost a decade of success with the same group of people.
“Of course, I’m very happy for my teammates and for the coaching staff for the result at the Olympics. But it was sad for me to watch it. I would have loved to be with them”, he reflected on his absence from the Olympic Games. However, he still had conversations to potentially change the outcome.
Before Paris 2024, Thomas Heurtel revealed he spoke with national team representatives about making it to the team. “I spoke with coach [Vincent] Collet and Boris Diaw. But I didn’t know if I would have stayed in Zenit or not. So I didn’t want to say I wouldn’t have stayed, going to the national team, and going back to Russia. It would have been an even messier situation”, he said.
“For the Olympics, the preparation started very early, so I didn’t make a decision back then. They told me I couldn’t participate. No problem, I accepted it”, the 35-year-old point guard commented. “I was a little bit sad, but I didn’t regret anything. I didn’t do anything wrong. I can’t control what I can’t control”, he also said, emphasizing his disappointment after being excluded following EuroBasket 2022.
“The Federation decided players to play in Russia couldn’t be with the national team. From the first day, when I was with the national team in 2022, I revealed to everybody I would have signed in Zenit. I didn’t lie to anybody, nor did I say anything wrong. Everybody knew I would sign with Zenit, and at EuroBasket, I was one of the best players on the national team”, he came back to the controversy.
With another EuroBasket approaching in 2025 and a squad eager to find another gold medal 12 years after the last 1st position gained in Slovenia, Thomas Heurtel expressed his wish to come back with the national team. “Playing with the national team is always a big pride, so if I had the chance to come back playing with France would be a big pride”, he first said.
“Putting on this jersey and playing for your country is always great. But I hope I can get a second chance because I didn’t do anything wrong, to be honest. To be a mentor in a different role on the team would be a pleasure”, the veteran point guard added. “We’ve had a lack of point guards in France. We’re different players, but [Nolan Traore] is gonna be the main point guard very soon in the national team”, he said.
Continuing on the 2006-born who will be shining with Saint-Quentin in the upcoming Basketball Champions League and LNB, he said he’s “very athletic”. Thomas Heurtel also spoke about Matthew Strazel. “I have known him since my time in ASVEL. Every talent who’s coming up is gonna be great. I hope they will help the country and the Federation to get medals and trophies”, he added.
Talking about French talent ready to dominate, Victor Wembanyama is destined for greatness. “You can throw the ball in the air and he’s gonna catch it”, he said when asked if he would like to play the pick-and-roll with France’s No.32. “He looks amazing, and he’s gonna be even better in a couple of years”, the 35-year-old point guard commented about the San Antonio Spurs‘ own.
“I know him from a long time ago. When I was in Barcelona, he came to play at the MiniCopa del Rey [in 2018]. He came with his mother, I saw them at the airport and we chatted a little bit. I saw his game when he was 14, and obviously you could tell he had a lot to improve despite being impressive physically”, he recalled before going on with the background story on Wemby.
“Then, a few years later, I saw the clips of him in Nanterre playing the 2vs2 against Rudy Gobert, and I said: “Wow, is this the same guy I saw in Barcelona?”. He was shooting threes, dribbling like a point guard. Very amazing. I’m very happy because everybody talks about him, he’s a very good person too, well raised. I’m very happy France has a guy like that for the future”, Thomas Heurtel added.
The Olympic Games could have been the last International appointment for Vincent Collet in charge of France’s bench. Thomas Heurtel has been a cornerstone of his squad from 2013 up until his move to Russia when he was excluded from national-team rotation. “When I was with the national team, our relationship was great. We didn’t have any problems. He helped me make improvements both as a person and as a player, everything was great since the beginning”, he reflected on the head coach.
Things have quite changed since when he signed with Zenit Saint Petersburg. “I don’t know if he’s gonna stay or not, I also read news about this potentially being his last tournament. But I’m not updated about his decision. When I was in Russia we talked a little bit: a few messages and calls, but not like it usually happened. We were both focused on different things”, Thomas Heurtel also added.
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Thomas Heurtel isn’t “the same person” now
Adding to the post-EuroBasket controversy with the national team, Thomas Heurtel had also problems in the last part of his EuroLeague career thus far. Everybody will remember the issue with Barcelona in December 2020, when he was left out of the team’s airplane after an away game with Efes in Istanbul.
“In Barcelona, I didn’t do anything wrong, I don’t have any bad feelings against them. From day one Saras [Jasikevicius] didn’t want me, I tried to change his mind in the first couple of months. Then, that situation in Istanbul happened. It wasn’t my fault. Everybody made a big story about this because I don’t remember any athletes, not only basketball players, whose club treated me like they treated me”, he said.
Later on, after a small parenthesis back in his home country with ASVEL, he joined Real Madrid. But another away-game shenanigans conditioned his stay in Spain. “I was very happy to sign there because it’s the best club in Europe. I was very grateful, and happy. But it’s true that I made this childish mistake to go out [in Athens] before playing with Panathinaikos“, he admitted.
“It was a very bad mistake on my part, and I apologized to everybody: the coaching staff, GM, and teammates. I was ready to get a second chance, because I think I’m not the only athlete or basketball player who goes out before a game, and especially I wasn’t alone. But I was the only one getting this treatment”, Thomas Heurtel also said about getting punished by Real Madrid.
At this point, he’s entering a new – and likely ultimate – phase of his career with a different reputation than just a few years ago. “I think these two stories in Barcelona and Madrid made my reputation very bad, but I’m not the same guy, I’m not the same player. We always learn from our mistakes. My first priority now is my family, then basketball, and God. I think you can learn from your mistakes”, he swore.
“Now I’m not the same person and I’m never gonna repeat the same thing I did in Madrid. Overall, I think people think about me like I’m a criminal. But I don’t think I’m a bad person or a bad teammate. These two situations had repercussions on the end of my career”, Thomas Heurtel also said before sharing his desire and wish for an ultimate stage of his playing life on the court.
“I’m in Madrid, still practicing since when I left Zenit. I’m in the best shape physically of my career, I’ve been following diets and practices every day. I take care of my body 100%. What I want for the next season or for the future is to have a chance to go back to the EuroLeague”, he crossed his fingers.
The goal, therefore, is finding the right opportunity. “It would be the best opportunity for me. I’d like to have a coaching staff and an organization that could really appreciate me and try to trust me since day one, to get a chance in the EuroLeague and show I’m capable of repeating what I did in Barcelona, Efes, or Zenit, where someone trusted on my abilities”, Thomas Heurtel finally said about his future.
PHOTO CREDIT: VTB League