Bold predictions for EuroLeague Round 1

Check out five bold predictions from EuroLeague.net staff members for Round 1 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season.

Shane Larkin could blow it up in Barcelona

by Frank Lawlor

I am not sure how bold this is when Shane Larkin has averaged 19.4 points and a 22.3 PIR in 16 career games against FC Barcelona. He scored at least 17 points in 12 of those games, five of them in the playoffs or Final Four, and has a personal 11-5 mark against Thursday’s hosts. Larkin has talked about flipping the narrative after Anadolu Efes Istanbul missed the playoffs last season despite seeking a EuroLeague title three-peat. The new season's first game would be prime time to set that tone, and Larkin, for one, couldn't have asked for a better opponent, even on the road.

Birthday boy Tornike Shengelia gets unleashed

by Igor Petrinovic

With the way summer transfers played out for Virtus Segafredo Bologna, its versatile veteran forward Tornike Shengelia has once again become a centerpiece of a EuroLeague team. Shengelia, a former All-EuroLeague First Team honoree, had a couple of up-and-down seasons mostly triggered by injuries that forced him to miss 11 games in each of the last two campaigns. A workhorse who averaged more than 30 minutes per game during his time with Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, Shengelia is in great shape after a successful World Cup with Georgia. And if domestic games are any indication, he looks like he fits perfectly into the ideas of a new Virtus head coach Luca Banchi. On Thursday, the night of his 32nd birthday, I expect Shengelia to show he has plenty of gas left in his tank and be a real problem for Zalgiris Kaunas, leading Virtus to a home win in their season opener.

Valencia's Davies clicks all the boxes in Round 1

by Javier Gancedo

Valencia Basket hosts AS Monaco is what is expected to be a high-scoring game. It should be a very special game for Valencia center Brandon Davies for many reasons. First, he plays against one of his former teams. Davies played for Monaco in the 2016-17 season, right before he and his former team entered the EuroLeague. He helped Monaco win the 2017 French Leaders Cup title. Davies was chosen to the 2018-19 All-EuroLeague First Team with Zalgiris Kaunas and to the 2020-21 All-EuroLeague Second Team with FC Barcelona. After a season with EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, Davies arrives to Valencia to lead his new team. It is the first game of the season in front of his new fans at La Fonteta, so Davies should be ready for a really solid performance against a big powerhouse like Monaco.

Olympiacos, Milutinov will roll in famous derby

by Frankie Sachs

What's bold about this? Well, as of Monday morning, the odds-makers had Panathinaikos as a 3.5-point favorite, although that number has shrunk a bit since. The Game is at OAKA. Then, of course, there is the 75-51 walloping the Greens suffered at the hands of Olympiacos on Saturday in the Greek SuperCup final and the fact that head coach Ergin Ataman will use that loss as something to rally Panathinaikos around. Predictions about this game basically come down to how much you believe that game was an aberration and how quickly Kostas Sloukas and co. can turn things around. Watch out for Olympiacos center Nikola Milutinov, who with 11 rebounds can catch Panathinaikos legends Mike Batiste for 22nd place on the EuroLeague career charts with 1,117.

Fenerbahce to lay down a marker in Round 1

by Geoff Gillingham

One of the standout games in Round 1 pits Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul against EA7 Emporio Armani Milan. Both Fenerbahce and Milan have improved their rosters in the offseason, but I expect the Turkish side to put on a show in its home opener at Ulker Sports and Events Hall. Entering Year Two under head coach Dimitris Itoudis, Fenerbahce is still able to call upon Nigel Hayes-Davis, Dyshawn Pierre, Johnathan Motley, Scottie Wilbekin and Marko Guduric, while it has also added Yam Madar, Nate Sestina, Sertac Sanli and Georgios Papagiannis to its array of options. It will be a tough test against Milan, that’s for sure, but I expect a high-level performance from Coach Itoudis’s Fenerbahce that should get the team’s fans dreaming of a Final Four appearance in Berlin next May.