By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Portland Trail Blazers star CJ McCollum talked to Eurostep about his connections with Europe, the cities he would live at and who was the first European player to cause him trouble in the NBA.
“I think my first time was going to Greece. My brother played for Apollon Patras, maybe that was the team he played for, and I ended up going out to Greece to see him play” says McCollum about his first time in Europe, after which he became accustomed to the cultural elements of the Old Continent.
“I could live in Barcelona, Madrid, Athens, Santorini… I could live in – what is it, Crete. I could live in smaller cities, in a lot of different countries. I could live in Istanbul. I could live in Israel. I could live in… You name a place, I could probably live there, I’ll find a spot that’s comfortable for me”, he mentions.
With a European “invasion” in the NBA in recent years, McCollum traces back to the first European player to give him a hard time during a game.
“Taking it back to my rookie year, yeah, Tony [Parker]. He did whatever he wanted, you know, mid-range, floaters, get to the cup. I didn’t play a lot my rookie year but the times I did play, he played extremely well against me”.
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