r/nba • u/RUBEN4iK Latvia • 1d ago
Kristaps Porziņģis on the NBA’s European project: “There’s nothing better than life in Europe. The comfort outside of basketball and playing in front of the best fans.”
Porzingis keeps the door open to a EuroLeague return
The Latvian doesn't rule out returning to Europe to stay for good and continue his professional career once he finishes his business in the NBA.
"Who knows? I always keep that open, obviously. I love European basketball, I love EuroLeague," Porzingis told BasketNews in an extensive conversation when the Hawks were visiting Toronto.
The Hawks center brought up the NBA Europe discussion and named some cities when asked about preferred destinations.
"I've heard that there's going to be an NBA in Europe. I don't know how that's going to look, but there are definitely interesting things on the horizon. And who knows? Why not? There's nothing better than living in Europe, in my opinion, in cities like Athens, Barcelona, Madrid, to name a few," Porzingis said.
"There are so many great places to live and have a great life outside of basketball and playing in front of some of the best fans. Partizan in Belgrade, Crvena Zvezda – it's a beautiful city, the fans are crazy. You never know, we'll see," added the veteran center
Full article: https://basketnews.com/news-238501-kristaps-porzingis-potential-return-to-europe.html
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u/3my0 Trail Blazers 1d ago
Yeah Europe is sweet. Tho life is pretty good anywhere when you’re rich lol.
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u/Cynical_badger Knicks 1d ago
I dunno, it would be kind of nice to be able to quit my job and not have to worry about shelling out thousands of dollars of month for health insurance till I figure something else out.
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u/T-Macch Trail Blazers 1d ago
What the States do with their insurances is straight up robbery. Even going to Uni costing thousands of dollars per annum is beyond comprehension for the average European. I haven't even begun about life changing/sustaining medication being absurdly expensive. Europe might be a bureaucratic shithole but life here on average is still great compared to the rest on earth.
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u/tokengreenguy [BOS] Raef LaFrentz 1d ago
Yeah but do you guys have freedom?
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u/V_T_H Knicks 1d ago
Imagine not wanting to be a patriot by paying all of your money to get educated and not die, smh commies.
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u/tokengreenguy [BOS] Raef LaFrentz 1d ago
Imagine NOT being able to take your guns to the grocery store?
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u/3my0 Trail Blazers 1d ago
I agree but if you Kristaps level of money you wouldn’t have to worry about that. That’s why I specified if you’re rich
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u/Sundaytoofaraway 1d ago
Cities he mentioned are stilll pretty sweet if you just have a normal job. There's a reason millions of people visit them.
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u/3my0 Trail Blazers 1d ago
Yeah but they also have big housing affordability issues. That’s why many (Barcelona for example) are banning airbnbs. I think if you’re fairly minimalist and are okay renting for life then it’s pretty comfortable.
Also places like Spain have a 10% unemployment rate. Youth unemployment at like 25%. So just having a normal job in the first place can be challenging.
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u/ivarokosbitch Nets 1d ago
What I came to realise in the US is that money can't buy a lot of the peace of mind things you have in most of Europe (and ostensibly, Japan).
Class segregated communities that feel safe and look good are far away from events and life, and big cities that try to replicate both with mixed urban zoning end up as a puzzle where a fent loonie is shouting at you from across the street after you just left your finance bro friend's penthouse house party.
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u/_Tar_Ar_Ais_ 1d ago
Japan has a homogenous culture where everyone buys in, not possible in the USA
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u/down_up__left_right 1d ago
Not having homeless addicts sleeping on the sidewalk somewhere is less about people “buying in” and more so about having a stronger social safety net that gives people a last resort that isn’t sleeping on the street.
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u/_Tar_Ar_Ais_ 1d ago
but Japan still has that problem, yet the homeless there are still better behaved than the ones in the USA
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u/ivarokosbitch Nets 1d ago edited 1d ago
Which is the basic "quietly" understood principle between all the quasi-fascist in power in the USA right now.
The issue is that the same class of people still want a cheap labor force to serve them. So immigration has to continue flowing into the US. So they are in this juxtaposition that can only lead to further societal oppression.
The Great Northward Migration screwed up the pre-existing system of a geographic distribution of non-WASPs, and now their chosen recourse is creating a new class of illegal immigrants that would function as slaves. Also the nationally preferred group of people started slowly expanding from WASP to Germans (late 19th century), then to white Catholics (Irish, Italian, Poles) and now it is up to white-looking Latinos, East Asians and multiracial groups.
Existing US citizens of color are kept in check as Uncle Toms via the threat of agencies like ICE. If any government figure does not tote the party line and is a minority, there is always quick and obvious way to paint him an enemy.
Japan is also currently starting to go through a similar problem due to their ageing society forcing them to import Southeast Asians and Chinese. The Southeast Asians are more easily profilable on the street as non-Japanese, so they even prefer that to other East Asian groups.
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u/bigtimehater1969 1d ago
This is the kinda shit you say when you've never lived outside of the US, but you need some kind of talking point to push anti-inmigrant or anti-diversity viewpoints.
Japan (and a lot of Western Europe and Asia) has a ton of shit the U.S. doesn't have that give their citizens a higher quality of life. But whenever someone brings up how life in the US sucks compared to those countries, it's always like "well they have less diversity," implying diversity inherently makes your country worse. It's never about social policies.
I'm gonna tell you right now, even if we turned the US into the whitest Christian country in the world like you want, it would be even more of a shithole than it is now.
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u/_Tar_Ar_Ais_ 1d ago
I live outside of the USA, so you are already wrong. Also I never said a single thing about one domineering race or religion, a projection on your part. I'm saying that it's possible that a nation with many ethnic backgrounds could work, but it will need those ethnic groups to buy in to one mindset that benefits everyone for the country.
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u/_Tar_Ar_Ais_ 1d ago
Also to your point did those things that Japan and Europe have just materialize out of thin air? or did it take a society to accept it and implement it? Again, all down to "buying in". I also find it funny that you can't handle genuine criticism for USA which can also be said for many countries.... which is why it is more than likely never going to happen for you.
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u/resuwreckoning 1d ago
Europe as a whole is filled with rich societies that got that way by doing in the past what the US is doing now lol.
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u/100SanfordDrive Pacers 1d ago
Shhh don’t bring logic to Reddit. According to Reddit Europe can do no wrong
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u/Spa_5_Fitness_Camp Trail Blazers 1d ago
Shits a lot cheaper in europe. And there's never any fear of going bankrupt or homeless due to medical bills, or being laid off, and far less worry about retirement because all the medical expenses related to being old are paid for. When I was there this last summer, a grocery haul that would have been $150 here was about $60.
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u/NobodyRules [OKC] Russell Westbrook 1d ago edited 1d ago
Shits a lot cheaper in europe.
It really isn't. Not to pick on you specifically, but I hate when people from anywhere else come to my country and say "oh everything is so cheap". It's not, it might be if you have a very good salary from the States or somewhere else, but for the vast majority of the population... it's expensive.
I bet the same goes for Thailand or every other country people tend to say this. For the vast majority of European citizens in the vast majority of European countries, things are getting crazy expensive and the salaries aren't really following it.
As far as the rest goes, sure.
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u/AffectionateDouble43 22h ago
Yeah but if you are rich anyways you start to value more nice weather, good food, street safety, etc. when you look into places to live.
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u/Cute-Illustrator-862 Toronto Huskies 1d ago
the Mediterranean countries have the best lifestyles in the world. it's like California without guns.
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u/PanePizzaPasta 1d ago
If you can get a job with decent pay :) but yes I agree, Spain to me is the absolute best
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u/Cruyffiaan Bucks 1d ago
I’m from the Netherlands but I try to go to Spain once a year, in winter especially, what a country.
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u/Legendacb 1d ago
I mean there are millions of people on Spain wirj good salaries. Just many who doesn't.
But it's not impossible to have a good life here
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u/mrguister 76ers 1d ago
I'm Portuguese and gotta agree. Although the salaries and housing prices are a big issue, wouldn't trade it for anywhere else.
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u/themoneygontalk Spurs 1d ago
Weather wise? Sure it’s like Cali, nothing else screams Cali to me out there
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u/bombastica Rockets 1d ago
I thought Athens was really rough when I visited there in July 2022. It was kind of sad. Not sure if this was a post pandemic thing or what. Corfu was very lovely though.
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u/Smekledorf1996 1d ago edited 1d ago
I was in Athens this past summer with friends
Had a great time - the food and people were really great. There’s cool historical sites but outside of that, the city reminds me of a poor version of Belgrade
Just lots of run down infrastructure and ugly graffiti everywhere
Corfu was fantastic imo
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u/deets23_ Celtics 1d ago
Just went this past summer too. I think some people think it’s “rough” because of how old it is, there’s a lot of history there. It’s an ancient city after all. I enjoyed it there though
That being said, Crete was definitely my favorite
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u/plombi 1d ago
What about Athens reminds you of Belgrade?
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u/Smekledorf1996 1d ago
Just some of the neighborhoods I walked through, the orthodox monuments and people their are super friendly (like in a lot of other places in the Balkans imo)
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u/everyone_is_a_robot 13h ago
Several European economies are not doing too well, and that becomes visible in the main cities. Athens being one of them. One of the worst probably.
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u/Altruistic-Sand-7421 1d ago
I think the people who always spout America #1 have never spent time in a different country. If you have, then you know how great others can be.
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u/cursedace 1d ago
On Reddit I only hear about how the rest of the world is a paradise and the US is the worst place on earth.
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u/FEECH4040 1d ago
This is usually in response to the arrogance of Americans who somehow still think their country is the best in the world just because they have the strongest economy in the world. An economy that serves like 5 percent of your population and somehow the other 95 percent believe and act like they have a better life than some random average person in Europe.
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u/cursedace 1d ago
Again, I only ever hear about how terrible the US is (including from you). I’m not sure where these arrogant Americans are that claim it’s the best in the world but they certainly aren’t the majority on Reddit.
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u/Altruistic-Sand-7421 1d ago
I live in Texas. They're all over. What are you talking about? You ever been in deeply red districts - and also some blue as well. Xenophobia is real.
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u/Eggsavore 1d ago
America integrates immigrants better than Europe does. It’s literally the land of immigrants.
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u/Altruistic-Sand-7421 1d ago
I think ICE is kind of putting a large spotlight on the immigrant issue. The good and bad.
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u/Eggsavore 1d ago
I’m not saying things aren’t bad at the moment but America doesn’t have the same integration issues and discourse that Europe does. For example, children of immigrants in Germany acquire the language faster when attending a regular school as opposed to the compulsory language classes compromised of other immigrants. They try too hard and it backfires on them.
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u/DJRyGuy20 Celtics 1d ago
I wouldn’t say Reddit is an accurate representation of Americans as a whole. Compared to many online spaces, Reddit leans heavily to one side of the political spectrum- and that side includes the type of people (myself included) who are thoroughly disgusted with what’s happening in our country right now.
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u/100SanfordDrive Pacers 1d ago
I travel a lot for work. There are absolutely nice places out there, but we have it so great here that people just take a granted (especially Redditors). I’ve always said people should go aboard for 6 months to truly appreciate what we have here
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u/ForeignAir7174 1d ago
He's not wrong about that. The amount of effort people take to LIVE LIFE and actually enjoy is just extraordinary.
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1d ago edited 1d ago
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u/Green-Discussion74 1d ago
you make more money but you work like a mule and spend 30% of your life commuting to work
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u/PeopleusetocallmeBub 1d ago
Don’t forget the adage « if you got cancer, you’ll never financially recover ! », not only that but in fair few states they pay more taxes than in Europe.
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u/Sentrox Spurs 1d ago
I think it depends on your field. With remote work becoming way more common post COVID has helped in that regard in the IT field. And making more money is a complete understatement. The gap between European and US salaries in most advanced fields is staggering. Just using myself as a reference I'd be taking a roughly 30-40k USD paycut if I went to live with my mom in Spain and work my exact same position for most companies I researched in Madrid, with very little change in my work life balance and as a fluent Spanish speaker. I'm not even a high level analyst, for some positions like high level SWEs it's even higher of a gap.
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u/OilOfOlaz Celtics 1d ago
I don't want to be combatitive, but I read these posts somewhat often and its true, you make a lot of money in the US, lot more then in european countries on average, the more you make, the bigger the difference gets.
Point is most ppl don't make a lot of money, the difference in median annual gross salary between germany and the US is roughly 15k. This sounds a lot but, cost of living, cost for medical services/insurance and education are much cheaper, social security and consumer protection much better.
If you make bank the US will help you to make more bank, if you don't or fall from grace, your life will be better in many european countries, or if you are Swiss or Liechtensteiner, your life will on average be better regardless... if you are from the european version of the bermuda triangle, aka. balkans, or the place, where investement, dreams and hope vanish, your life will on average be much more miserable.
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u/Low_Interview_5769 1d ago
Hes Canadian, they dont make more money, no idea why hes trying to have Canada and USA when monetary the big bucks are in USA not the great white north
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u/mattyhtown [HOU] Kelvin Cato 1d ago
You can make a lot of money in Canada. There’s a lot of money in Canada
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u/Broski28of25 France 1d ago
Like bro don't you guy have jobs
Always interesting to hear American take on European lifestyle. It's so bizarre.
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u/resuwreckoning 1d ago
You should hear the ones from Europeans about the US.
Being from India myself it’s amusing when they refer to them as a “3rd world country.”
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u/OilOfOlaz Celtics 1d ago edited 1d ago
This goes both ways (europoors) and I've literally heard ppl say "europe is a third world country" its dumb as fuck, either way.
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u/resuwreckoning 1d ago
Yeah but this is reddit. Here it’s basically one way.
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u/OilOfOlaz Celtics 1d ago
I think, this really depends on the topic, I think most ppl from the US would agree, that work life balance, social security and more vaccation is desirable, but they can also get sensitive about other topics.
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u/TotallyNotGlenDavis Celtics 1d ago
I do understand being bewildered by the Mediterranean culture of starting your night out mad late and then coming home at like 8am. Nowhere else I’ve been really does that.
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u/OilOfOlaz Celtics 1d ago
idk where you have been, but you can find "afterhour" clubs in germany, that stay open way beyond midday, or you can just go to berlin and go out from 10pm on friday or saturday, till the early morning hours of monday...
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u/Sweetest_Noise 1d ago
I work 37 hours per week (no weekends), and earn enough to lead a comfortable life where I was able to buy a two bedroom house by myself. I don't need to work three jobs just to get by.
Additionally, we get 34 days of annual leave, including public holidays, which allows me to go on holiday twice per year or visit my parents whenever I want.
To you, wealth equals money. To us, working enough to support our lifestyle.
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u/darksoles_ Thunder 1d ago
Once you spend more than 1 day in Europe you realize how much nearly all American cities suck lol
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u/gorkemguzel32 [BOS] Jonas Jerebko 1d ago
Porzingis can never return to Euroleague because he never played in Euroleague.
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u/Leap-Day-0229 1d ago
I'd be surprised if he's still in the nba next season unless he's willing to take a massive pay cut.
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u/ShotgunStyles Kings 1d ago
Take a minute to name the starting centers in the NBA. You will immediately realize that a lot of teams have a horrible center rotation. Some teams are rolling with vet minimums right now because there's just nobody that good they can acquire.
He won't be getting a big contract, but a team like the Pacers could take a swing at him. A team like the Raptors could too. I wouldn't even be surprised if there's a reunion with the Celtics.
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u/Thami15 Heat 1d ago
What's that stat? Like 11% of seven footers in the world have played in the NBA? Id imagine that it's like 40-50% for 7'3 guys. KP is only 30. Hard to imagine there isn't a $10m contract for him somewhere as long as he has two working legs.
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u/solarscopez Celtics 1d ago
He can shoot, protect the rim, and is 7'3".
Very few players in the world like that who can do that at the NBA level. Plenty of teams that will take that upside on the chance he's healthy enough to play a couple games for them.
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u/Ok_Daikon_7726 Lakers 1d ago
There’s a reason we signed Ayton and were happy, and Tingus is much better when he plays (which is the big issue obviously)
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u/DJRyGuy20 Celtics 1d ago
I wouldn't even be surprised if there's a reunion with the Celtics.
Yes, please. Please bring back our lovable unicorn (for the right price, of course). 🥹
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u/TreyAdell Celtics 1d ago
Celtics definitely not taking him back. Right now the Cs are pretty much valuing big time screeners/rebounders at the 5 spot. KP comes with too much expectations to get him touches, availability concerns and statistically the Celtics were better with him off the court pretty consistently.
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u/DJRyGuy20 Celtics 1d ago
I mean… that depended heavily on whether we were getting healthy Porzingis or playing through injury/illness Porzingis.
If we got him for a super cheap price, ala Horford when he came back, I’d be thrilled to have him back on the squad. Our current bigs are playing above their paygrade for sure- but you just can’t match his skillset at 7’3” very often in this league.
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u/TreyAdell Celtics 1d ago
Im all good. And I’d hope Brad would be too. He plays once every 3 weeks.
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u/DJRyGuy20 Celtics 1d ago
That’s why I said it’d have to be on the cheap. That 10 minute stint where he went off on both ends of the court in game 1 of the Finals would be worth a vet minimum alone.
If we were able to build our roster back up to form and start making finals runs again… and were to face the likes of an OKC with Holmgren or the Spurs with Wemby- you wouldn’t want a weapon like that in your back pocket?
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u/TreyAdell Celtics 1d ago
I would not want KP back at all at any price. Not a fan.
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u/DJRyGuy20 Celtics 1d ago
May I ask why? I get the injury and illness concerns- and those are real concerns, but it sounds like you have other issues with him.
From all accounts, he was a beloved teammate, had a positive locker room presence, and always played within the flow of the team, IMO. I don’t get the claim about “demanding” touches… to me, he was just the luxury of another weapon that made us damn near impossible to stop. We were absolutely curb-stomping the league with our 5-out offense with a healthy KP in the lineup on that title run.
Just so I’m clear, I’m not trying to be combative here. I’m just genuinely perplexed why a Celts fan would be unhappy with what KP brought to the squad- outside of the injury concerns, of course. That I totally get. But a vet minimum (essentially what you’re paying a 12th man like Tillman) would negate that concern.
Either way, I’m excited by how Brad and Joe will continue to build up the team. Go Celts!
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u/TreyAdell Celtics 22h ago
I’m just not a fan of him. I was upset when we traded Marcus for him and understood it was the right basketball move but then we basically won the title without him. And then in ‘25 we played better basketball consistently whenever he was out, Al and Luke were just much better fits with the Jays. They set great screens, rebounded and I just liked them more. It doesn’t help that KP is like an Andrew Tate guy either and then he was like the biggest reason we smoked a series vs the Knicks.
To each their own but KP is not a guy I ever want on the Cs again.
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u/DJRyGuy20 Celtics 22h ago
Fair points all around.
I never knew he was an Andrew Tate guy. Yeah, that’s gross.
But if we start picking apart our guys for their worst attributes, I’d have a hard time rooting for anti-vaxxer JB. 🤷🏻♂️
And I’m on the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to Marcus Smart. I appreciate the dude’s hustle for sure, but I was always ready to trade him yesterday. You could mark it down as a sure thing that every time he made a crowd-pleasing defensive play, he’s immediately follow it with the dumbest offensive decision possible.
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u/Rahnamatta Heat 1d ago
The Europe (and other places) crowd is filled with fans; the NBA crowd is filled with the people that can afford tickets, and they go to the games to have fun (most of them).
In other places the working class is probably going every game, at least every local game and it's not like they have to eat rice and drink water to save money.
To the people that are not from the US is really wild to se that a team is being kicked in the ass and the crowd is just as happy as if they were about to win the championship. And that's ok because they want to have fun, the game is something extra.
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u/resuwreckoning 1d ago
Lmao now do football and you’ll understand that Europeans are just like everyone else when it comes to sports they actually gaf about.
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u/Hot-Historian-7438 1d ago edited 1d ago
What do you mean by that? Outside of some UK teams, football is very affordable and working class still. I am in Germany and a ticket to my closest pro team starts at 15 bucks. Fan culture is insanely cool and only really comparable to College Football but bigger and better organised - lots of cool choreographies, chants, dances, moving interactive banners several hundred feet wide. And fans are doing that every game, often even still loudly when down several goals.
Edit: Nevermind your whole profile is just you doing „Europe bad“ with tons of extremely faulty assumptions while branding yourself an expert.
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u/elLugubre [SAS] Tim Duncan 1d ago
Football fans in Europe are even more passionate than basketball fans, you're spitting nonsense.
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u/fph00 Pelicans 1d ago
That's an interesting example you got there, because drinking water in Europe is not a poverty thing; it is just normal for most people.
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u/Rahnamatta Heat 1d ago
Are you serios? I meant that you drink from the sink and buy the cheapest food. As not buying Coca, Pepsi, etc...
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u/fph00 Pelicans 1d ago
I am serious, yes. It's hard to find stats and comparisons, but from what Chatgpt tells me bottled water outsells soda in many European countries. Tap water is also popular in many households, especially with "Brita" style filters, but there are even fewer stats I can find.
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u/bankrollbystander 23h ago
Porziņģis name dropping places like Athens, Barcelona, Madrid, and Belgrade isn’t accidental either those are elite basketball environments with insane atmospheres that NBA arenas rarely replicate night to night. it also says a lot that he’s open to a permanent return, not just a retirement tour, which gives some real weight to the NBA Europe idea if it ever materializes. for veterans especially, the appeal of highlevel competition without the constant travel and media pressure makes total sense.
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u/Dissociation25 18h ago
The NBA is going to regret starting this league as all of the Eurostars will eventually leave for this league and even some of the American ones will too.
I've seen article after article about how much better the quality of life is for a sports star over there.
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u/LurkerFailsLurking Nuggets 1d ago
Americans have been living in a shit hole country all along and didn't even know it.
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u/Purple-Particular486 Suns 1d ago
Surprise surprise the racist guy would rather be back in Europe
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u/FlatMilk NBA 1d ago
if he was racist, he would have moved heaven and earth to stay in boston
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u/Purple-Particular486 Suns 1d ago
Idk man, he follows a ton of far right Twitter accounts. He’ll do this thing where he’ll follow them then unfollow them but there’s a few he still hasn’t unfollowed. He’s been doing it pretty much since Elon bought it.
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u/Purple-Particular486 Suns 1d ago
Downvoting me just cause you aren’t hip to what the man is up to on Twitter is crazy.
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u/StillwaterJerry Suns 1d ago
KP is racist?
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u/UpvoteIfYouAgreee [BOS] Jaylen Brown 1d ago
he regularly follows neo-nazi adjacent twitter accounts then unfollows
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u/ObviousAnswerGuy [NYK] John Starks 1d ago
I've actually never heard this, do you have a source?
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u/UpvoteIfYouAgreee [BOS] Jaylen Brown 1d ago
theres a twitter account that posts nba follows/unfollows
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u/Purple-Particular486 Suns 1d ago
He follows a ton of white nationalist accounts on Twitter. Like straight up Nazi stuff.
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u/Purple-Particular486 Suns 1d ago
I literally just got back from Latvia and live in Germany, he actively follows and supports far-right islamaphobic and racist Twitter accounts.
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u/ChucoTeacher Spurs 1d ago
I’m used to American sprawl and suburbs. This year, I got to travel a bit more. Walkable cities and beautiful parks and good public transport are amazing.
Totally changes one’s perspective on America and one’s place in the world.