Mike James and Nikola Mirotic are considered one of the best players in the EuroLeague, and this season we could see them in the same team.
More and more often in Europe we see a trend in which players join a team in order to reach the trophy together. That tradition has been known in the NBA for a long time, and this summer we could have had a real bomb in the EuroLeague. Namely, as Mike James himself admitted, there was a possibility that he and Nikola Mirotic would be part of the same team.
“Obviously, he was having problems in Barcelona, and they were having problems, so the easiest answer was Monaco. So I tried to connect the dots there and facilitate him going somewhere. Obviously, I’m not in the GM’s, owner’s, or coach’s room, so I can’t do numbers and promise things. All I can do is tell them the good and bad and tell them I want to play with them, and hopefully, it’ll work out.
He didn’t choose us. He had a lot going on. As a friend, he was very open with me the whole time about what he was going to do. I was trying not to bother him too much because you don’t want to bother somebody when they’re making a big decision like that. But I reached out a lot, almost every other day, just to talk and see what he was doing and see what he was thinking“
Mirotic chose Partizan, and James points out that that choice was clear and Monaco decided to bring Kemba Walker to the position of superstar.
“I understand it was Partizan and then us. He chose Partizan, we’ve moved on and made some signings. When the Partizan thing happened, Milan was like the last team standing. I could be incorrect, but that’s the way I understand it.
You always want talent around you that can help and get you to the next level. Especially when you’re about winning. It would have been great to have him, but we didn’t get him, and we’re moving forward.” – said James in Urbonas Podcast.
We all remember what later happened between Mirotic and Partizan, and the former NBA player eventually ended up in Milano.