Are you sick of the off-court drama of the NBA starting to seem like it matters more than the actual games? Are you fed up with load management and star players resting on any given night? Do you yearn for just a little more emphasis on team basketball instead of isolation? Did you watch Team USA get torched by Andreas Obst at the 2023 FIBA World Cup and ask yourself who the heck does he play for?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then you should start watching EuroLeague basketball. The season gets underway on Oct. 5 and is shaping up to be one of the most competitive in the history of the competition. This is not the NBA, and in some ways, that is a flaw. There are no players at the level of Nikola Jokic, LeBron James, or Kevin Durant out there. But for some basketball fans, that's a good thing.
Truthfully, and to some this may sound like a hot take, but EuroLeague is what college basketball die-hards think college basketball is. That's not a slight, it's very simple: Professional adults are better than young amateurs. It's high-level basketball without the star players calling so many of the shots. It's basketball where an individual can will their team to victory, but most games require a collective team effort to get over the line.
There are a lot of reasons to watch EuroLeague basketball. We've touched on some briefly here and we're going to list out five of the best throughout this piece. However, it's important to note that we are not arguing for you to watch EuroLeague basketball instead of the NBA or NCAA. All three of these levels of basketball are enjoyable in their own way, and EuroLeague viewing should be an addition to your basketball intake, not a substitution. Here's why you should become a EuroLeague viewer.
Why you should watch EuroLeague: 5. The rivalries and the fans
The NBA doesn't have many fervent and active rivalries at the moment. Some would fill an argument against this point: Miami and Boston, Philadelphia and Boston, the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets, the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors, etc. While these games have something extra to them, almost all these rivalries are very contemporary. The Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers were huge rivals for four straight seasons. Then LeBron James left Cleveland and that was that. Philadelphia and Boston are the only match-ups here with a long history of contempt for one another.
This is because the NBA has become a free-flowing league in terms of player movement. The days of one-franchise stars such as Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird seem to be behind us. That means the rivalries are with the players themselves and have moved away from the teams.
EuroLeague is different. The rivalries are historic and rooted deeply in organizational culture because European basketball uses the club model over the franchise model. These rivalries are also local and create environments that make Duke and North Carolina look like a walk in the park. The Belgrade derby between Partizan Mozzart Bet and Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet is arguably the best in basketball.
It is closely followed by the Greek derby between Panathinaikos and Olympiacos. Rivalries between Barcelona and Real Madrid, known as El Clasico in basketball just like in soccer, Fenerbahce and Anadolu Efes Istanbul, and others are also intense. The atmosphere of European basketball is on a level that American basketball cannot relate to.
Way you should watch EuroLeague: 4. The style of play
We touched on this a bit in the opening. EuroLeague basketball is more team-focused and is reliant on team structure and execution to deliver victory. The main reason for this is talent. As we said at the beginning, Kevin Durant and LeBron James aren't out there. Teams still have their go-to bucket-getters but they're not at the level of the best in the world. This draws out the need for the entire team to contribute. There will be a lot of pick-and-roll, a lot of cuts, a lot of screens for shooters, even post-ups, and at times perfect ball movement that looks like poetry in motion.
It's not that you don't see this in the NBA, you absolutely do, but in EuroLeague, this is often the best way for teams to create offensive opportunities while in the NBA sometimes getting a bad defender switched onto your best player at the top of the arc is enough. The game is also slower. There are fewer transition opportunities and half-court offense is a much bigger part of every game.
Again, this is created by a gap in talent and athleticism. While EuroLeague players are freak athletes like NBA players, they are still a level below. Rule differences are also helpful to this more tactical approach such as the differences in goaltending, and the fact that there are no defensive three-seconds. Also, the court is smaller. All of these together make a more rigid game that can be more aesthetically pleasing for some.
Why you should watch EuroLeague: 3. The eccentric coaches
If you thought the days of Bobby Knight throwing chairs were entertaining, then wait until you get a taste of European basketball coaches. EuroLeague, and European basketball at large, is driven by the coaches similar to the college game. This means the coaches have more freedom to get in their players' faces, and they do not hesitate to take advantage of it.
EuroLeague also places hot mics in timeouts, for almost every timeout. Unlike the NBA, they show these timeouts live. They don't clip it up and show us the boilerplate clips only later in the game. They let fans see and hear everything that happens in the timeout.
Those are just a few clips. Most of the coaches, you can find their rage highlight reels on YouTube if you search for them. This approach also led to college basketball legend Rick Pitino fitting like a glove when he coached Panathinaikos.
It's worth noting that while these outbursts are entertaining for some fans, we have seen coaches reel them back slightly over the past few years. Whether it be official but unofficial league guidance or coaches being more conscious of cameras, they tend to save their vitriol for moments when it is necessary.
Why you should watch EuroLeague: 2. Former NCAA & NBA players, and future NBA players
We just talked about Rick Pitino coaching at Panathinaikos. He's not the only former college basketball legend to ply his trade in EuroLeague. Pitino coached former BYU star Jimmer Fredette at Panathinaikos. Fredette's backcourt teammate was former University of Florida point guard Nick Calathes.
Former Miami guard Shane Larkin is a star for Anadolu Efes Istanbul, Marquette alum Markus Howard plays for Baskonia, Two-time NCAA national champion Shabazz Napier plays for Crvena Zvezda, Gonzaga alum Kevin Pangos plays for Olimpia Milan, and so do many other former college basketball players. If they didn't make it in the NBA, many of them ended up here.
Former NBA players are here too. Kemba Walker and Nikola Mirotic are the two most well-known former NBA stars in Europe. Walker will be a EuroLeague rookie this season with AS Monaco. One of his teammates is former Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns guard Mike James. The always entertaining and never-defending Milos Teodosic who took a pit stop with the Los Angeles Clippers will be teaming up with Napier in Belgrade this season.
Lastly, EuroLeague has potential future NBA players too. Draft stashes such as Rokas Jokubaitis of the New York Knicks and Matteo Spagnolo of the Minnesota Timberwolves will be playing for FC Barcelona and Alba Berlin next season respectively. If Brooklyn Nets fans want to dream of a very skilled center they'll never have, they technically own the rights to Serbian big man Nikola Milutinov. There is a lot of talent, and a lot of characters out there for EuroLeague. It never disappoints.
Why you should watch EuroLeague: 1. Every game matters
The NBA regular season does not mean what it used to. That's not a slight, it's the nature of the league. Medicine has advanced and made it clear that strategic rest can increase a team's odds for a championship much more so than home court throughout the playoffs, especially as the rise in three-point shooting has helped offset home-court advantage. But this does make some regular-season games tough to watch. EuroLeague does not have this problem. The league's slogan is every game matters.
This is mainly driven by their being fewer teams and the league's format which has fewer games. There are only 18 teams, and each team plays each other twice. That means there are only 34 games played by each team to decide who makes the playoffs outright and who makes the play-in tournament. Coasting for an away game against an inferior opponent early in the season could easily come back to bite you down the road.
As we've discussed, EuroLeague has less star power than the NBA. That means the teams are much closer in terms of overall talent. You could argue ten or eleven teams could make the EuroLeague Final Four this season. To get there, you've got to make every game count from October onward. That's certainly what we'll see for the 2023-24 season. We hope you'll be watching.