After two long seasons stuck on coach Tom Thibodeau’s bench in New York, Evan Fournier decided he wanted something new in his career. This summer he got the opportunity to serve a major role in France’s silver medal in the Paris Olympics and even averaged 9.8 points per game, and now it seems like he wasn’t willing to return to an NBA bench.
These are part of the reasons why the European player rejected the chance of signing a two-year offer given by the Wizards and instead inked a new contract with EuroLeague giant Olympiacos in Greece.
During his introductory interviews, he gave his take on the differences between scoring in the NBA and Europe, especially after spending 14 campaigns playing United States basketball for five different franchises.
Evan Fournier explained why some players say that it’s easier to score in the NBA than in Europe pic.twitter.com/qw8gDakvhn
— Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) September 8, 2024
The French star echoed the sentiments delivered by Luka Doncic in the past, in which the Slovenian has guaranteed time and time again that the NBA offers more scoring opportunities than the European game. Fournier noted that NBA defenders are better individually, but it doesn’t translate into lesser offensive contests.
“In the NBA, there are better defenders on the ball, players who can chase you faster on the perimeter,” he said last week, via Eurohoops. He then explained that in Europe, there is always a second or third defender ready to contest a shot, once the first defender was beaten.
One of his biggest new rivals, Mathias Lessort, talked about what Evan and other new signings will bring to the league this upcoming season. “It’s a challenge for all of us, and we’ll have to fight for minutes. Cedi Osman is a great player: he can create and shoot, contribute defensively, and, of course, having a player of that caliber is very good for the team,” the Panathinaikos player shared.
“Olympiacos had a great summer in terms of new players and transfer market work. However, we won the EuroLeague and the Greek League last year, and they took it personally,” Lessort kept at it, explaining how the EuroLeague’s competitiveness will grow only with these talented arrivals.
Doncic has said many times in the past that he finds the EuroLeague to be more entertaining, as well as a more difficult game in many ways
When asked whether he keeps track of the MVP race last season, the Dallas Mavericks star explained that he watches more EuroLeague than NBA games. In other words, Dončić doesn’t really keep track of what his fellow NBA MVP candidates are doing, explaining that EuroLeague games attract most of his attention.
“Not really. I watch some NBA games, but I watch more EuroLeague than NBA. But if it is a really good NBA game on TV, I will watch it,” he confessed last year in JJ Reddick’s The Old Man and The Three interview series.
In the past, when he’s been asked for more depth in his opinion about the NBA, the Slovenian has insisted on comparing it to what he experienced as a player in the EuroLeague. “In Europe it’s more team basketball, it’s more tactics basketball, but it’s very different because the court is smaller, the rules are different and you have less time,” Luka shared.
Besides the fact that many rules aren’t the same, Dončić had no doubt in admitting that players in the NBA are better and more technical in general. “Just playing in the NBA, you play with guys who are almost impossible to guard. I would say scoring is easier in the NBA because of the rules, but there are way better players in the NBA,” he added.
