Johnathan Motley has been one of the revelations of the 2022-23 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season, as the first-year Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul center has averaged 13.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists and a PIR of 16.8 during his team's 9-1 start to the campaign.
Fenerbahce's Motley faces biggest test yet against Real Madrid
To this point, the 27-year-old has largely got the better of the centers he has come up against, although foul trouble has seen his minutes reduced in the last few games. With Real Madrid coming to town on Friday night, Motley will no doubt have his hands will with Los Blancos' trio of big men: Walter Tavares, Vincent Poirier and Petr Cornelie.
In Round 7 at home to Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade, Motley was a force, recording three season-highs with 25 points, 10 rebounds and a PIR of 33. Since then, though, he has gone on to finish with 10, 8 and 9 points, respectively, against Panathinaikos Athens, AS Monaco and EA7 Emporio Armani Milan.
While all three of those games saw Fenerbahce come away with the win, Motley's influence on proceedings was drastically reduced due to a sizeable decrease in his time on the court. After playing for 33:09 minutes against Zvezda, the following three games saw Motley spend 13:22, 21:33 and 17:59 minutes on the court.
Yet, in such a big fixture as Fenerbahce vs. Real, Motley will be keen to get back on the right track and show everyone once again that he is ready to be one of the stars of the EuroLeague.