By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
You can read what the GM of the Kings thinks about the national teams here while the question was presented to the European Commission was backed by the two Co-Presidents of the Sports Intergroup, Santiago Fisas Ayxelà (Spain) and Marc Tarabella (Belgium), as well as by the Secretary-General Theodoros Zagorakis (Greece) and the Intergroup Vice-Presidents Bogdan Wenta (Poland) and Virginie Rozière (France).
After the meeting, the official statement of those members was the following: “The important thing for us is to secure the right of the players to compete with their national teams. We don’t like to be involved in the FIBA versus EuroLeague debate. On the contrary, we encourage healthy dialogue in order to have a soluation that will give unity and strengh to European basketball. However, any debate between authorities should not affect the players and their participation to their national team. We expect from the EU parliement to act accordingly”.
In both cases there’s no mention to the European players of the NBA, despite the fact that there’s an agreement between FIBA and the NBA which will not let them compete in the qualification games of their national teams.