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Sergio Scariolo on NBA Europe: "I haven't thought about it. I believe there's room to join forces and avoid conflicts. I'm enjoying myself in this EuroLeague, and I had three fantastic years in the NBA. I appreciate their perspective. Anything that adds options is good for European basketball. This club has started a medium- to long-term plan. This year, we're focused on competing this season, but we're thinking long-term. Short-term thinking is the best ally of bad decisions. Our focus is on the long term. This is a club with over 100 years of history. The important thing is to avoid short-termism."
Still, Maciej Lampe is interested in continuing his path in basketball as a coach. “There is a small chance, a possibility, that I could join Real Madrid’s coaching staff. Sergio Scariolo was my coach when I was at Real, when I debuted as the youngest player in the club’s history — until Luka Dončić broke my record. I called Sergio at the beginning of the year and told him: ‘It would be nice if I could start my coaching career where I began my playing career.’ He was open to the idea. He told me: ‘Try to find a job as an assistant or a head coach somewhere, do well, and then you’ll increase your chances of coming to Real in the future.’ That’s my plan now,” he continued, adding that Sergio Scariolo had a big influence on him early in his career.
Sergio Scariolo on Kawhi Leonard: The first month I think he told me four words, five words at all. At all. And I was, man, that's tough, right? This is the superstar system here in the NBA, my first year... In the beginning of the playoffs, he was asking me to meet every day 10 minutes with some clips and just to talk basketball, about the game, which was I expecting to happen that night, right? The evolution. What do I mean? He's a very quiet guy. He's someone who's not giving up his trust for free easily, but he's a smart guy. He is focused and motivated. Not too talkative, but when he talks, he talks meaningfully and is a big leader by example. I mean, when he was time to play defense, he was playing defense. When it was time to get the rebounds, he was getting that rebound. And obviously when it was time for the team to find a way to score a basket in a very, very tough moment of the game, he was there.
Sergio Scariolo on Juan Carlos Navarro: ‘He was like a painter, someone who’s been kissed by the gift of an art. Obviously physically he was quick but nothing special, right? But basketball-wise he was so skilled, so smart, but so competitive. And he was not fearing nothing. Nobody. It was like thinking that he was going to score on anyone in any circumstances with any shot against any opponent. It was really really with such a high level of self-confidence which was really bringing him to perform like nobody could ever expect him to be.
Sergio Scariolo: ‘In the last two years at Real Madrid, I became General Manager too. That meant I was responsible for everything. They asked me because the president changed, and they couldn’t find a replacement. I thought I could handle both roles. But in hindsight? That was a mistake. Being both the coach and the general manager in a club like Real Madrid—under immense pressure—was too much. Everything was on me. I wouldn’t recommend this to any colleague.’
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Sergio Scariolo touched on the topic of European basketball and the NBA Europe project. “We don’t have enough information. The NBA is an extremely serious and successful organization. European basketball cannot afford to be stubborn or have a superiority complex — especially when it comes to organization, marketing, business, and media rights. From that standpoint, there’s a lot to learn.”
Still, he believes that combining the two would be the best solution. “From a basketball point of view, we have a great product that needs to be protected. There’s always room for improvement, but the game itself is already a very high-level product. If we can merge the two sides — the sporting side, which is extremely strong in Europe, and the business side, which is extremely strong in the NBA — maybe we’ll see a leap forward in the coming years.”
Real Madrid suffered a setback on the road, falling to Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade 90-75. After the game, Madrid's head coach Sergio Scariolo shared his thoughts on the NBA Europe project and the potential for collaboration between European basketball and the NBA. “We don’t have enough information. The NBA is an extremely serious and successful organization. European basketball cannot afford to be stubborn or have a superiority complex — especially when it comes to organization, marketing, business, and media rights. From that standpoint, there’s a lot to learn,” Scariolo said in a post-game conference.
“From a basketball point of view, we have a great product that needs to be protected. There’s always room for improvement, but the game itself is already a very high-level product.” “If we can merge the two sides — the sporting side, which is extremely strong in Europe, and the business side, which is extremely strong in the NBA — maybe we’ll see a leap forward in the coming years,” he added.
He then turned to a different subject, sending a message to FIBA: Sergio Scariolo: “Since it’s my last championship and I’m in a position where, after many years in FIBA national basketball, I can advise FIBA not to put doping controls on a team that is playing back-to-back games and finished playing at midnight. This is extremely disrespectful. With so many days available, the doping control could have been scheduled earlier instead of this crazy late-night timing. Hopefully, they will learn from this, because they are better than this.“
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Spain began their EuroBasket 2025 campaign with a defeat against Georgia, and coach Sergio Scariolo spoke in the post-match press conference. Scariolo said: “Georgia is a very experienced team, with several high-level players, including NBA and EuroLeague athletes, and they deserved the win. I believe it was my fault; I couldn’t convince my players that they were a much bigger and more physical team than us. We should have made a huge effort to match their physicality, and we didn’t. In fact, by the end of the game, they grabbed 16 more rebounds than us.”
Following the team’s second consecutive defeat to France, the Italian mastermind still spoke highly of Spain’s performance, highlighting the team’s significant effort. “I’m not surprised because I know what this team is like, regardless of the individual names, but I am amazed by the personality they showed in front of 15.000 spectators and against a top-level team with brutal physical conditions,” he told Marca. “The team held on for 35 minutes, although their physical superiority began to take its toll from the start of the second half. Obviously, in this team, we’re not used to celebrating defeats.” “The results of these matches mean practically nothing to me, but the team’s morale does. We still need to get a boost of morale for the great game we played. This is the right direction,” he added.
Lorenzo Brown, recently announced as the new point guard for Olimpia Milano, has withdrawn from EuroBasket 2025 due to “personal reasons,” as reported by AS and confirmed by realolimpiamilano.com. The decision comes as a surprise, given Brown’s pivotal role in Spain’s 2022 gold medal run and his inclusion in Sergio Scariolo’s preliminary squad.
