Evan Fournier agrees with Luka Doncic’s take on the NBA being easier to score than the Euroleague

After two long seasons on the bench for coach Tom Thibodeau in New York, Evan Fournier decided he wanted something new in his career. This summer he had the opportunity to play a major role in France’s silver medal at the Paris Olympics and averaged 9.8 points per game, and now it seems that he was not interested in returning to the NBA bench.

These are part of the reasons why the European player turned down the opportunity to sign a two-year contract offered by the Wizards and instead signed a new contract with EuroLeague giant Olympiacos of Greece.

In his introductory interviews, he gave his opinion on the difference between scoring in the NBA and in Europe, especially after spending 14 campaigns playing United States basketball in five different franchises.

Evan Fournier explained why some players say it’s easier to score in the NBA than in Europe pic.twitter.com/qw8gDakvhn

– Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) September 8, 2024

The French star echoes the sentiments brought by Luka Doncic in the past, when the Slovenian has repeatedly confirmed that the NBA offers more scoring opportunities than the European game. Fournier noted that NBA defenders are better individually, but it doesn’t translate to less offensive contests.

“In the NBA, there are better defenders on the ball, players who can chase quickly around the perimeter,” he said last week, via. Eurohoops. He then explained that in Europe there is always a second or third defender ready to contest a shot, if the first defender is beaten.

One of his biggest new rivals, Mathias Lessort, talked about what Evan and the other new signings will bring to the league this coming season. “It is a challenge for all of us, we will have to fight for minutes. “Cedi Osman is a very good player: he can create and shoot, contribute defensively, and, of course, having a player of that type is very good for the team,” said the Panathinaikos player.

“Olympiacos had a good summer in terms of new players and transfer market activity. However, we won the EuroLeague and the Greek League last year, and they took it personally,” Lessort continued, explaining how the EuroLeague’s competition will increase for these talented newcomers.

Doncic has said many times in the past that he finds the EuroLeague the most exciting, and the most difficult game in many ways.

When asked if he followed the MVP race last season, the Dallas Mavericks star explained that he watched more EuroLeague than NBA games. In other words, Dončić doesn’t really follow what his NBA MVP teammates are doing, explaining that the EuroLeague games draw his attention the most.

“Not really. I watch some NBA games, but I watch the EuroLeague more than the NBA. But if it’s a really good NBA game on TV, I’ll watch it,” he admitted last year in JJ Reddick’s book. Old Man and Three series of interviews.

In the past, when asked to go into more depth about his perspective on the NBA, the Slovenian insisted on comparing it to what he experienced as a player in the EuroLeague. “In Europe, team basketball is played, it’s a lot of tactics, but it’s very different because the court is smaller, the rules are different and you have less time,” said Luka.

Despite the fact that many rules are not the same, Dončić had no hesitation in admitting that the players in the NBA are better and more professional in general. “You just play in the NBA, you play with guys that are almost difficult to guard. I would say scoring is easy in the NBA because of the rules, but here are the best players in the NBA”, he added.