Jabari Parker has now moved on to the European side of the Force, and even the Barcelona star thinks that Ergin Ataman is right and that “it would be interesting” to see a showdown match between the Boston Celtics and Panathinaikos to decide who the team is world champion of basketball, between the reigning NBA champions and the winners of the 2025 Euroleague.
Already in the summer before the new season, stimulated by the debate on why NBA teams claim the title of World Champions after having won the title, Ataman had launched the challenge to the Celtics by inviting them to OAKA Arena for the give an account. A suggestion that I saw twenty reformers lashing out at both the NBA and the EuroLeague these days, we could also see it realized in the future…
Per Jabari Parkerwho was at the time a very promising NBA player, second overall pick in the draft and with a career interrupted by injuries, “being world champions means having played against the rest of the world, and not just in your country. It is therefore incorrect to define oneself in this way. If you want to be world champion, you have to beat others, like with the Olympics. It’s not just our hemisphere that plays basketball and goes to the Games. I think Pana isn’t that far from the Boston Celtics, it would be interesting as a challenge. I played there in the NBA, I played against the strongest teams in the Euroleague and Panathinaikos could also compete there, they have good players, they play together and play well“.
Il Panathinaikos has the rest a roster top-notch, with several players with NBA experience such as Cedi Osman, Juancho Hernangomez, Omer Yurtseven and of course Kendrick Nunn who is a star in Europe. Mathias Lessort he could play tomorrow in the league, and Lorenzo Brown he played with it (little) in his time. Really beating the Boston Celtics, the best NBA team today, in a single game or even worse in a playoff series could be prohibitive but there is no doubt that teams like Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Fenerbahcewith the possibility of benefiting from the expanded NBA rosters, would certainly start ahead of teams like the Wizards, Raptors, Blazers or Nets.
