The president of Igokea and the ABA League, Igor Dodik, said that the leaders of Zvezda and Budućnosti, Nebojša Čović and Dragan Bokan, were to blame for the incidents and tension during the final series.
"They allowed their mutual conflict to exceed all limits of common sense, and regional basketball can suffer unforeseeable consequences because of this. I spoke several times with Dragan Bokan and Nebojsa Čović. We all know what happened last season in the finals, and that is why I had the intention to warn of some things so that history would not repeat itself. Dragan Bokan was in the very beginning in favor of some kind of agreement, to reduce tensions, but Nebojša Čović refused," he said. is Dodik for Banja Luka "ATV".
After that, said Dodik, every session of the Assembly of the ABA League, at which they were present, would turn into a fight and their personal confrontation that would last for hours.
"Personally, I had to stop one such argument between the two of them, even warning them that they would have to leave the session. If I hadn't done that, the session would have lasted "two days". Everyone in the league gets sick of watching and listening to it, and I think that no one should have to endure it. Unfortunately, everything culminated during the final series," said Dodik.
He also said that he barely persuaded the president of Buducnosti that the players of that team would still play the fifth game after they retired to the dressing room, as well as that Nebojša Čović told him not to interfere in what was happening and that the first man of Zvezda refused to empty part of the stands.
"The ABA League's contract with the Euroleague expires next year. I wouldn't be surprised if the leaders of the Euroleague, after everything that happened, say: 'Thank you for everything, but goodbye and have a good time. We don't need you with such behavior.' I think it would be a big blow for regional basketball, and no one can rule out the possibility that something like that will not happen. Great damage has been done to the reputation of the competition. According to my information, the company "MYD-Sports", which is the guarantor of the financial stability of the ABA league, is even considering filing lawsuits because they also found themselves in a problem of how to attract new sponsors. The damage could really be incalculable," says Dodik.
He says that on May 24, the ABA League Assembly will discuss the entry of Olympiakos into the regional competition and that currently Cedevita, Crvena zvezda, FMP and Mega are against that idea.
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