The improved quality of Euroleague really isn’t in doubt. Basketball as a business is about more than just the basketball itself. Emmet Ryan examines whether the competition could do with an infusion of youth?
While never exactly known for being overflowing with youngsters, the lack of true rising stars in Euroleague this season is cause for concern. Basketball is a sport but the win-now need at present could cost Euroleague in the future.
The headline stats are not a great start
For the basics, let’s take a look at the statistical leaders in Euroleague through the first four rounds. Trevion Williams of Alba Berlin, in joint 9th, is the only player this season born this century among the top 10 rebounders. That’s not an ideal start.
Theo Maledon, of Asvel, at 23, is the glorious exception. He leads Euroleague in PIR and is 5th in points per game. Maledon’s unfortunately the only player born after 2000 in either top 10.
It gets worse with creators. TJ Shorts II of Paris Basketball is the youngest player in the top 10 for assists. At 27, that’s hardly youthful albeit this is his rookie season in Euroleague. Now, the upside is that this is no different to the NBA. While Victor Wembanyama led the NBA in blocks last season, neither he nor any other player born this century made the top 10 in the basic counting stats.
This makes sense, top basketball tier leagues rely more on fully rounded and developed players. Guys in their prime are expected to top these lists more. Yet there’s something pinging my neck here.
This is straying from the norm
Here’s a list with a line break. Ricky Rubio, Nikola Mirotic, Mirotic again, Kostas Papanikolaou, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Bogi again, Alex Abrines, Luka Doncic, Luka again, and Goga Bitadze.
Then the line break comes. The list switches to Usman Garuba, Rokas Jokubaitis, Yam Madar, and Gabriele Procida. For those who need help, these are the winners of the Euroleague Rising star since the 2009/19 season. All winners must be under 22 years of age.
Those from Ricky through Goga averaged 23 minutes per game. All, bar Bitadze’s win and Bogi’s first, came with playoff contenders. Then we jump to after the pandemic, where the line break is.
The average per game drops to under 16 minutes from the winner. Only Garuba could be argued as both on a playoff side and a key piece in the campaign where they won the award. Even then, it really took the playoffs for him to break out and get wider attention.
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So why is it happening?
There’s a squeeze from two fronts on the best of youth. The appeal of the NCAA basketball option has grown for European players. The NIL has strict limitations on non-US residents. In short, the Euros that go can’t get paid NIL money for activities in the US. There is, of course, a workaround. Any NIL event they do outside of the US is permitted. That means the appeal is obvious.
Then there’s the obvious win-now mentality that has only gotten stronger in Euroleague and beyond. It’s getting harder for teams to gamble on young prospects. They rarely get to still have the better players by the time those ballers are ready to be a big factor on a championship run. Furthermore, they are able to find veterans much easier now than before. We’ve seen that with the glut of Euros leaving the NBA to return in recent seasons.
Those players are no longer doing so just for one or two seasons. Nikola Mirotic came back in his prime. Cedi Osman has done the same. These are proven commodities that, naturally, make more sense for a coach than a prospect.
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Yes, this should be a concern
A quick question. Who do you think will win the Euroleague Rising Star award this season? Procida is too old, by a month by the way. Matteo Spagnolo (Alba Berlin) and Matthew Strazel (AS Monaco) are both playing decent minutes. The latter is even with a contender. There are a few others but there’s a need for a true breakout star.
Most of you reading this already like basketball. You probably follow Euroleague and even have a team you support. You were also almost certainly born in the previous century. That, right there, is the concern. Relatable young players, who are proving themselves against the vets, always sell well with the generation coming through.
Right now, the arenas are full and the product is strong with star power. That’s great and also the most dangerous place to be. It breeds complacency. With the league getting older, the risk is the average age of fan does too.
Gabriele Procida won the Euroleague Rising Star with Alba Berlin last season.
What can be done
This really comes down to incentives. The reason Alba Berlin can field a roster in consecutive seasons with contenders for the Euroleague Rising Star award is because they basically have to. The German club can’t compete financially with the higher end budgets. They need to be smart and they need to gamble on youth.
Good for them, now let’s reward them for it along with anyone else that does. The new financial fair play (FFP) rules are naturally going to cause some interesting approaches to accounting in the league. Incentives for youth development built into this, essentially enabling more budget at the top end of the roster, could help. If there was some FFP relief for certain hurdles being cleared with use of under 22 players, more clubs would be incentivised to examine the opportunity more.
Anything based around requirements or penalties is a dreadful idea in my book. Making someone do something gets, at best, that person just doing the bare minimum to tick a box. At worst, they expend lots of effort avoiding ticking it. Make someone want to do something, then they become part of the solution.
