By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Words like “fatigue” or “tired” seem completely alien to Frank Ntilikina ahead of two significant upcoming dates for his career.
The 18-year-old super-prospect and highest projected European player in the Draft finished the do-or-die Game 4 of the French League Finals with a victory for Strasbourg and he’s getting ready for the big night (Thursday, June 22) where he’ll find out which team (one between Dallas Mavericks and New York Knicks) is going to acquire his NBA rights.
He’ll be there. But he also won’t miss Game 5 (Friday, June 23) against Elan Chalon and the chance to leave Europe carrying a championship title in his bags.
“It’s crazy but I have to be there and two both things. I’ll go to the Draft but when it’s finished I’ll be totally focused on Game 5. It’s not possible not being there because our target is the title,” he said following Game 4.
In order to be able to be present in both Barclays Center, New York where the Draft is held, and Chalon, home of Game 4, the French combo guard has arranged a charter flight. Still, due to the time difference his moments of rest between the two occasions will be few, if not non-existent.
It’s going to be early Friday morning in Europe when he boards the plane to get back in France where the match will begin at 20:30 local time. Still, as Ntilikina said, it’s championship title game and he simply wouldn’t be absent from it.