By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Four-time NBA champion with the L.A. Lakers Kurt Rambis will attend the Basketball Champions League Final Four (May 4 – 6) as a guest of tournament host and participant AEK Athens, the Greek club announced.
The former player and current coach began his professional basketball career with AEK under the name “Kyriakos Rambidis” back in 1980. He led the team to the first domestic Cup title in the history of the franchise (an 84 – 78 win over Iraklis Thessaloniki in the Final), winning Final MVP honors in the process.
Rambis spent 1980 – 1981 with AEK before embarking on 13-year NBA career during which he won four championship titles (1982, 1985, 1987, 1988) as a member of the “Showtime Lakers“. He also won two rings as an assistant coach with the Lakers, in 2002 and 2009.
AEK also announced that representatives from the Lakers management will also attend the BCL Final Four.
Apart from AEK, the other three teams that will compete for the BCL title are Monaco (France), MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg (Germany), and UCAM Murcia (Spain). Monaco faces Ludwigsburg in the first semifinal will AEK plays Murcia in the second.