By Semih Tuna/ info@eurohoops.net
From starting his professional career in Denmark and accepting the only offer on the table, Otis Livingston II made it to the Basketball Champions League. He is up to 16.0 points and 6.8 assists per game over the first four appearances in the BCL.
Five years after completing his NCAA career with George Mason, he went from a humble beginning with Horsens IC and the Basketligaen to the leading player of the storied Turkish club, Galatasaray. He hopes to continue the rise by reaching the Final Four of FIBA Europe’s top-tier club continental competition.
“I think that is very possible,” he opened up to Eurohoops about the Lions eventually playing in the championship-crowning stage of the BCL, “We have a little bit of ways to go to get there. I think we just need to keep improving, game by game.”
“The Champions League is a good league with a lot of good teams and good players. So, it’s challenging, it’s tough,” continued the 28-year-old guard, “I think we have the team and the support to go very far in the league.”
The team coached by Yakup Sekizkok currently sits at 3-1 in Group D of the Regular Season. Before visiting ERA Nymburk and Kralovka Arena on December 3, Galata trails the undefeated Czech champions by one game in the battle for a direct ticket to the Round of 16. With two showings remaining in the six-game double-legged round-robin schedule, at least a second opportunity to advance through a best-of-three Play-In series is guaranteed.
The deal with Galatasaray
Debuting in club continental competitions, Livingston averaged 12.7 points per game with the Hakro Merlins Crailsheim in the 2022-23 edition of the FIBA Europe Cup. He went on to join medi Bayreuth to finish the 2022-23 season. Last season at Wurzburg Baskets, he was named season MVP of the easyCredit BBL. After two breakout years in Germany, he moved his talents to Turkiye, determined to keep putting in the work on the court..
“A lot of pick-and-rolls, isolations, a similar system to Wurzburg. So, it was very attractive,” he told Eurohoops about his decision to join Galatasaray during the offseason, “Sekizkok and the rest of the coaches watched a lot of film on me. They know my game, my strengths, and my weaknesses. They helped me develop and continue to get better as a player.”
Besides striving in the Champions League, Livingston averaged 16.0 points per game, including a 31-point outburst against Besiktas Fibabanka on Saturday, at the top of the 2024-25 Regular Season of the Turkiye Sigorta Basketbol Super Ligi.
“You want to deliver every single time. And as a scorer, some nights it is going to be a little off. On those nights, I try to do other things on the court, to try and help my team win, even if I am not scoring as well. There are going to be nights when I score the ball really well,” he said, “That’s just the way basketball is, life is. You want to be perfect and always succeed in the way that you want to but sometimes it doesn’t work.”
From Otis Livingston to Otis Livingston II
His father, Otis Livingston, a former college basketball player in his own right, is a popular and successful sports anchor and sideline reporter in the United States.
“He played a big part in my life since the day I was born. He was teaching me things about basketball, about life. Mostly he was teaching me by his actions, the way he lived his life, what he did, how serious he took things, but also being funny,” the Galatasaray star talked about learning from his father, “That is something I wanted to be like.”
The discussion spilled into the best coaches of his career, favorite foods, and more.
Otis Livingston II on Eurohoops TV
Photo Credit: FIBA