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Nadir Hifi, Paris Basketball: 'The EuroLeague is coming!'

Nadir Hifi, Paris Basketball: 'The EuroLeague is coming!'

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13 April 20243 Mins read

Nadir Hifi, Paris Basketball: 'The EuroLeague is coming!'

Paris Basketball is the 2023-24 BKT EuroCup champion. Paris has punched its ticket to the 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, finished the EuroCup campaign with an all-time best record of 22-1 and was the first team to win 22 games in a season.

Six of its players and head coach Tuomas Iisalo also won the FIBA Basketball Champions League title with Telekom Baskets Bonn last season. Sebastian Herrera, Collin Malcolm, Tyson Ward and Leon Kratzer are four of them, as is Finals MVP TJ Shorts and Michael Kessens.

Sebastien Herrera: 'A dream'

Herrera, the first Chilean to win the competition, shared a funny story about the EuroLeague and his arrival to Germany.

"I remember when I got to Germany in 2014, I didn't know anything about the EuroLeague. Anything at all! I just knew there were good teams in it, and my coach in Trier, the first club where I played in Europe, would talk about the EuroLeague, Milos Teodosic, CSKA and a lot more," Herrera said. "I started watching and thought 'Oh, it would be a dream to play there.' And nine years later, this is where I am!"

Leon Kratzer: 'An amazing job'

"It's really amazing for all of us guys and the whole organization. It was an amazing job just to be here," Kratzer said after the game. "I'm proud of a lot of guys because I think to manage this pressure after the first 5 minutes where Bourg came out really great... We managed to keep calm and stay calm and just focus on the next play, and in the end, we won."

Tyson Ward: 'A special moment'

Ward was really excited about the chance to play the EuroLeague. "That's incredible. It's a special moment for me, to be compared with EuroLeaguers, to know that my name will be stated in a EuroLeague lineup," Ward said. "I'm gonna enjoy it tonight. I'm gonna enjoy it tomorrow. I'll enjoy it the next day. I'm gonna enjoy it till the end of the season. And then when it's time to tip off, all that goes away."

Collin Malcolm: 'I love it!'

"It's just an incredible journey. It's special to be able to make history, but it's even more special to just win it with these guys. Do it again with the six that we had and the guys that came in, everyone bought in and to the end. Words are losing me," Malcolm said. "It feels incredible, from August in Finland [pre-season] to now in Bourg. Everybody comes to compete every day in practice and everybody's ready for the game, and you never know who's going to be hit the big shot. I love it."

Two of the other new players that Malcolm talked about are Mikael Jantunen and Nadir Hifi. Jantunen became the third Finnish player to win the EuroCup, after Hanno Mottola and Petteri Koponen. Jantunen knows both of them personally.

Mikael Jantunen: 'We give it all'

"I've got to get some more trophies so I can get, like, over them"; he said. "I have got to go send them a message and say we are tied now with this, and go for the next one.

Jantunen also praises his team, not just the players, but everyone around it. "It goes from every member on the staff to every player, everyone in the background. It's just a special group. We enjoy working with each other and we give it all for each other on the court."

Nadir Hifi: 'This is important '

Finally, Hifi stated that his team played at a really high level all season and is a well-deserved champion.

"Basically unbelievable. There is a reason for us winning so many games: we work so hard! Like, you cannot imagine! But I'm so proud with these guys. Every day, we work hard. We just deserve that," Hifi said. "This is important for us, our community and our culture in Paris."

"We have a lot of fans, but hey, it's going to be crazy the next year and the EuroLeague is coming! It's going to be crazy!"

Congratulations to Paris Basketball!