By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The first game of the 2024 Intercontinental Cup ended up being an easy win for the G-League representatives who introduced the G-League United, over the BCL Americas Champions.
For the first time, the G-League is represented not by the previous season’s champions – who usually have a totally different line-up – or the failed experiment of the G-League Ignite, which no longer exists, but by a roster of select G-League players.
And former NBA champion Juan Toscano-Anderson did challenge the world in his statements after the game: “We want to be aggressive and make a statement. I believe the G League is the second-best league in the world, and we want to show that.”
Considering the fact that the G-League Unite beat Quimsa by double-digits and led almost from wire to wire, this is not necessarily an exaggeration.
As Toscano-Anderson explained: “We played a pretty well-rounded game, we got five guys in double figures. We haven’t been together too long; every single team here is a club team, and we’ve only been together for 10 days. We’ll continue to get better. I’m proud of my teammates — we came with energy, played together, and had fun.”
Aside the G-League pride, Juan Toscano-Anderson also explained that there’s a personal motivation for him and his teammates in this tournament, as he is open to the idea of signing a contract overseas if the right opportunity arises: “If my next step is not the NBA, then I would open to play in some of the leagues represented in this tournament”.
The Intercontinental Cup includes also the champions from the European Basketball Champions League (Unicaja Malaga), the Asia Basketball Champions League (Al Riyadi), the African BAL (Petro de Luanda), and the Australian NBL (Tasmania JackJumpers).