{"id":214011,"date":"2025-10-15T01:03:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T01:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/214011\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T01:03:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T01:03:12","slug":"joffrey-lauvergne-explained-his-decision-i-had-two-wishes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/214011\/","title":{"rendered":"Joffrey Lauvergne explained his decision: I had\u00a0two\u00a0wishes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joffrey Lauvergne has surprised the European basketball public with his new move, signing with Kuwait SC, and spoke exclusively to Basketball Sphere<\/a> about this unexpected decision.<\/p>\n

After spending the last few seasons with Asvel, the French center was ready for a new challenge \u2014 one he found in Kuwait, where, according to his own words, he is not planning to finish his career but to keep playing for as long as possible:<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be completely honest, this is a really interesting project, not only for Kuwait SC but also for the entire region and the country. Dubai started this whole movement, and as it began to take shape, others in the region wanted to follow the same path. Kuwait showed a lot of excitement about bringing me here. I arrived two days ago, and we will see how things go from here. We can talk again in a few months, but it looks very interesting,\u201d said Joffrey Lauvergne.<\/p>\n

\"jordan<\/p>\n

He also spoke about some of the offers he turned down before deciding to explore a new basketball environment. The names of the clubs that showed interest are no longer a secret:<\/p>\n

\u201cZenit showed interest, but their offer was really, really low \u2014 far below what I would accept. Monaco did the same thing, even though I showed a lot of willingness to play for Monaco. I told Misko Raznatovic that I had two wishes \u2014 to play for a team that\u2019s good enough and also fights for trophies. <\/p>\n

Monaco fit that description, especially since I\u2019m French. The same goes for Partizan \u2014 a long story that\u2019s actually short. Vassilis Spanoulis wanted me; he called me at the beginning of July and told me it didn\u2019t matter who was currently on the team or who would come or go, but the club president didn\u2019t want to spend money, and that was the end of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new team Joffrey Lauvergne joined is part of three different competitions, something the Frenchman explained in more detail:<\/p>\n

\u201cKuwait competes in three leagues \u2014 the local league, the Gulf League, and the Asian League. The season runs until the end of May, and I signed a contract until the end of the season. Everything lasts seven or eight months, and my goal is, if I like the lifestyle and basketball here, to stay as long as possible. Honestly, this is the opportunity I wanted and waited for. If for some reason I don\u2019t like it, I\u2019ll return to Europe and see where I can play next\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Having experienced it all in his career \u2014 from the ABA League and EuroLeague, to the NBA and the French national team \u2014 this move is a step into the unknown, but without any pressure:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s simple \u2014 I\u2019m not here to retire, but because I think basketball here is developing in the right way and very quickly. I want to stay for a few seasons and treat it like every other year since I became a professional. I want to show my best version of myself. For me, this is not a step closer to retirement \u2014 I just want to keep playing as long as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to comparing the EuroLeague and the NBA, Lauvergne shared an insightful perspective:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe EuroLeague is a high-quality and very competitive competition. There are two more teams now, and I\u2019m especially happy that Valencia is playing well and back in the EuroLeague. The competition now needs to take an organizational step forward, especially in terms of travel. It\u2019s important to find a way for teams to have private flights. I understand the costs and that it\u2019s a business, but the EuroLeague must continue to grow, and improving travel is the first step \u2014 especially for the players.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kristian<\/p>\n

\u201cThey should find a system similar to NBA trips. For example, why do we come to Belgrade three times, or Athens twice? Why not come to Belgrade once and play Crvena zvezda, Partizan, and Maccabi Tel Aviv, and then go to Athens for games against Panathinaikos and Olympiacos?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Europe, when you fly commercial, it doesn\u2019t matter if the flight lasts one hour or five hours \u2014 most of the time is lost getting to the airport, going through passport control, and checking luggage. So it makes no difference whether it\u2019s Athens to Istanbul or something longer. The best thing for players would be to arrive in Istanbul and play two games there to manage the schedule in that way\u2026\u201d explained Joffrey Lauvergne.<\/p>\n

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\n Up To 200 \u20ac\/$ Welcome Bonus \n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joffrey Lauvergne has surprised the European basketball public with his new move, signing with Kuwait SC, and spoke…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-214011","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}