While the NBA is often considered the best basketball league in the world, the EuroLeague is often considered the hardest. One player who knew this better than anyone coming into the NBA was French sensation Nicolas Batum, who shared how the league prepared him to face superstars like Kobe Bryant from the jump.
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Due to the team-oriented approach with stricter rules that emphasize better tactics, getting by on star power isn’t an option in Europe. It’s a league that will prepare players mentally to play against anyone. And we saw traces of this fearlessness in the Olympics this past year.
When Batum debuted with the Portland Trail Blazers against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2008, not many knew about him. He was a first-round pick from France during a time when overseas players were bigger rolls of the dice. But when he was asked to guard one of the greatest players of all time, Batum didn’t hesitate.
“Kobe just got MVP the year before, so that’s a big stage. Monty Williams was one of the coaches there, and he asked me how I was feeling… I was like, I just spent 2 years in the EuroLeague. Trust me, this is nothing. I’m good,” Batum shared on The Young Man and The Three.
For most NBA rookies, the task would’ve been daunting. Getting told to guard Kobe Bryant during your first NBA game? There’s no better “Welcome to the NBA” moment than that.
Yet Batum wasn’t nervous. And why should he have been? Sure, he was a rookie, but he had good EuroLeague experience. Additionally, the circumstances of the game were already out of hand, so he had nothing to lose.
“My first NBA action was guarding Kobe. I was a rookie, we’re down 20, and Nate McMillan was my coach, so you know he cleared the bench, white flag or whatever. Bring me up in my first action against Kobe… He missed,” Batum said while grinning.
The miss must have given the young Batum a sense of confidence as though he belonged in the league. After all, if you can stop Kobe, who can’t you stop? It was probably just a lucky miss, but maybe Batum helped throw off something in the legend’s jumper.
By the end of the game, the French star got to log 3 and a half minutes played during garbage time. During that time, he made his first-ever NBA bucket and grabbed 3 rebounds as well as a steal.
Kobe had a bit of a better game, dropping 23 points on over 50% shooting and grabbing 11 rebounds to go along with 5 assists. But one of those misses was because of Batum, which he rightfully made a memory out of. It wasn’t long before he was inserted into the Blazers’ rotation and ended up having a respectable career as a role player.
