Former NBA player and show host Gilbert Arenas was on The Dan Patrick show where he made sure to clear the record on what he said about getting “rid of all the Europeans” from the league. He would say that it was mostly a “sarcastic way of saying” made about the state of the league as their defense doesn't match up.
“For an American style athletic kid, the Euro has done something that we're just not teaching over here and that's skilled, that's team, that's the understanding of the game overall,” Arenas said to Dan Patrick. “So when you have them in the game and they're pushing the limits that means everything goes up, popularity goes up, money goes up right, if the game didn't expand to like a Euro style, there wouldn't be $350 million contracts, no that's that's the Euro style. So if you don't like where the game is then let's blame them, that's was the more sarcastic way of saying if you don't like the way the game is, then blame the Euros and let’s go back to 1985 basketball and see how you like that one.”
In his time on the show, he would also get into how the European-style of playing basketball has been a boost to the popularity of the NBA and also the way players are earning an enormous amount of money on contracts. Arenas would further cement to the audience that what he said was sarcastic when talking about that style lacking athleticism and defense.
Gilbert Arenas taking shots at Euro players like Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic
When looking at the top players in the league like the Dallas Mavericks' Luka Doncic and Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic, the one trait people usually cite as a negative would be their defense. However, Arenas cited their European descent as the underlying commonality on his show “The Gil's Arena.”
“I know what they can do, get rid of all the Europeans.”You go to college to learn defense,” Arenas said. “What college do Europeans go to? They don’t go to college whatsoever. They have no athleticism, they have no speed, no jumping ability, they are a liability on defense. There’s 150 Euros in the league today. Name the top 10 defenders. None! Just Rudy Gobert and [Giannis Antetokounmpo]. Other than that, they’re just offensive players. They’re not defensive players.”
“The NBA took away aggression,” Arenas continued. “They took away aggression to open up the Euro league. When they first started getting here, it was too rough for them. They didn’t make it. So eventually, they softened the rules. They did’t soften the rules for the Americans. They softened the rules to open it up internationally.”
It would not be the first time Arenas has talked about European basketball players on his own show. In December of 2023 after Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green got into an altercation with Phoenix Suns big-man Jusuf Nurkic, he said that “the media is trying to push these Euros” and telling Green to “do your thing.”
“I know what Dray doing. He's taking care of these [Europeans] one at a time,” Arenas said. “The media is trying to push these Euros, and you're choking and slapping them back. Do your thing!”
"I know what Dray doing. He's taking care of these [Europeans] one at a time… The media is trying to push these Euros, and you're choking and slapping them back. Do your thing!"
Gilbert Arenas on Draymond Green's ejection 😳
(via @GilsArenaShow)pic.twitter.com/yUOF5XCLSR
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 13, 2023
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