Yahoo Sports Mike James: 'I think that NBA teams look at me like a risk'
However, his short-lived NBA experiences didn't quite cut it for him. He found himself craving more minutes and a major role, leading him to focus his career on European basketball instead. "I think that NBA teams look at me like a risk," James said during SKWEEK's Best In Class podcast. "Cuz every time I talk with them, not me personally but my representatives, they kind of feel like, 'Yeah, but if it doesn't go well for you, you just get mad and leave and go back to Europe.' "Everybody just kind of thinks that if I'm not playing as much as I want, I'm going," he added. "Everybody kind of considers me like I've outgrown the role that they want to put me in, but they need to put me in that role for me to get a bigger role. So, it's like a give-and-take at some point."
Source: BasketNews
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When asked about his favorite place to live in Europe, James shared a mix of opinions. "I just have pros and cons about each one. Baskonia was terrible, Vitoria is the worst," he said. "I don't even know if it's really the worst, but I was like 24-25 years old, a newly single male in Vitoria. It was literally for me nothing to do. It was the worst. "I don't really know if it's that bad as the city because it has good restaurants. But when I was there, they didn't have English movies, it wasn't just a lot for me to do, to be honest. And they get mad every time I say that, but it's the truth," the EuroLeague MVP continued. -via BasketNews / November 5, 2024
What didn’t change was Vincent Poirier’s belief that EuroLeague remains the best basketball option outside the NBA – where he also played – and he responded to Juan Anderson Toscano’s recent remarks while talking to Eurohoops on Anadolu Efes‘ media day. “I talked to a few friends about what he said”, Poirier explained. “I also saw Evan (Fournier)’s tweets and Mike James’ tweets. Yes, he might have said that to motivate his team, but it shows how hard all European teams play. Malaga (Unicaja) is not even a EuroLeague team, yet they beat the best team in the G League. I don’t think the G League is even a real league.” -via EuroHoops.net / September 20, 2024
Mike James: Just because your dream is to play in the NBA doesn’t mean you’re better than players in EuroLeague or ACB. Getting cooked by a non EuroLeague team after talking like that is hilarious -via Twitter @TheNatural_05 / September 15, 2024
This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Mike James: 'I think that NBA teams look at me like a risk'
