When retired European basketball veteran Brent Petway contacted Eurohoops early in the summer, we had no idea what the end result would be. The former player and fan favorite decided to give an account of his career with no hold bars, taking us on a trip to his highs and lows, while providing a unique player’s perspective to professional basketball in Europe.
Petway’s writings tackle issues that range from locker room dynamics to depression and almost everything in between.
Τhis is not only a satisfying read by all accounts but also a warning and a cautionary tale for young players. Especially if you are an aspiring basketball player do yourself a favor and read it.
Enjoy…
Ι’m gonna start by writing I have felt for a long time that this athletics game is one of the dirtiest, slimiest professions in the world. Maybe only second to being a politician. I have seen some unbelievable things happen not just to me but also to teammates, close friends that would drive most people to be insane, to a state of depression or very low mental health which is what I have been dealing with for years. I will only speak about my personal experiences and what I saw with my own eyes, not stories I heard even if I know them to be true.
This game of being a pro athlete is worse than a roller coaster of ups and downs emotionally. You have to put up a huge wall between your emotions as an athlete and separate that from the person you are, but that is much easier said than done. All you need to do is go to the Instagram/Twitter page of your favorite athlete and look at the replies that these HUMANS who have FAMILIES and KIDS, have to read and deal with. I’m saying this to point towards later when I start to talk about my mental state and how it deteriorated rather quickly.
THE START
Before I was a part of the great teams in Rethymno I was in Greece for a short period with the club Ilisiakos. It was my first time in Greece and I knew absolutely nothing about the European game. It was a team full of young guys, all good guys, and Coach Stergios Koufos (for who I have much love). I had not been worked that hard since my college time but once the games started I understood why the preseason was so rough. Three months passed and I had not seen not one euro from the club.
Now think: I was coming from the NBA G-league they call it now, where the top salary at the time was 24k and I wasn’t even making that! After taxes, my salary was 12k so that is two years chasing a dream. No money just empty promises. I was D-league defensive player of the year (google it), playing position “3” I might add, not position “4” or “5”. Guarding the best perimeter player every night with NBA rules and playing from the perimeter on offense. I was not a 20-point-a-night scorer although I did have multiple games where I went over 30, and I was not getting that push to get into the NBA. Still, they kept telling me “we are looking for roleplayers who can play defense.” Big lies as I say.
Back to my point, no money, fly to Greece. This was 2009, no WhatsApp, no Viber. If you wanna talk to your family you either need to pay a thousand-dollar phone bill or use skype. What do you need to use Skype kids? INTERNET. Of course, it’s in the contract: house, car, internet, money (after I pass the physical). I arrive, the house is ready, great. Car within a few days, perfect. For two or three weeks, my first time out of the States alone I had no internet. So imagine you are in a foreign country with a seven-hour time difference from all your friends and family with no way of talking to them. The first four days or so were really rough because all I could do with jet lag was stare at the walls all night and think about how much I wanted a hamburger or what NBA game was on to watch. No Netflix or streaming in 2009 people. These teams bring players in and really show zero interest in making the players off court transition smooth. Clubs? I’m telling you if you help these players off the court ON A TIMELY MANNER, their on-court performance will improve a lot more than you realize.
So time passes and I’m not paid and I’m told it’s not a good time to bring up getting paid because we are like 0-7 or something. We started the season playing against every single good team in the league. So we were not expected to win anyway (which was also something new to me). All I know is I’m doing a job and not getting paid for it, and people are telling me “this is Greece.” I’m thinking “WTF does that mean. I’m doing all these hard-ass practices and you telling me “this is Greece”? F**K that! Pay me”.
Finally, we play Larissa, this is a “derby” game because we are two teams that have the goal of just staying in the top division. We win by 40 or something crazy like that and right on cue payday comes! The Internet starts working regularly! I had internet for like a month already but it was trash. I’m thinking “where in my contract did it say I only get paid if we win a game.”
I will never understand why these owners in Europe have these clubs and sign these players to contracts with no intentions of honoring the contract. It is the overwhelmingly number one complaint about Europe, not getting paid or getting paid 2,3,4 months late. It seems simple to me, if you don’t have the money don’t take ownership of a team. People have been beaten up for a lot less money than what a lot of these teams owe players, and I’m just waiting for the day that one of these players is going to do exactly that.
Rethymno
Time passed and I explored other things after a horrible intro to European basketball. I wanted nothing to do with it, so I left for a year and did something else. And then came Rethymno where I had maybe my best, most fun years ever on a basketball court and with a team. How did this small club make life so great? THEY HONORED THE CONTRACT!
They didn’t sign guys for 150,000 and only pay 70,000. It’s so simple! If you only have 40,000 for a guy tell him that, but give him that 40,000 on time, and he will play his heart out. This simple thing seems so hard for some clubs to do and I will never understand why. The other problem is Teams will sign a contract and not pay you on time, or not have your internet ready, or your house is not right, or the car is old, but if you are late to practice they want to fine you and call you into the office and say how unprofessional you are. That is why AGOR Rethymno went from A2 to A1 and immediately finished 3rd in the Greek Championship. Players got paid on time, living conditions were great so everyone came to practice and games ready to work thinking only about basketball because we had everything we needed off the court. “Damn Petway you want us to uphold our end of a contract? Nah I don’t think we should do that.” That is pretty much what you clubs say every year you don’t pay a player for his services whether you think he is playing well or not.
And then came Olympiacos…