LeBron Has Frozen the Whole NBA, Partizan Hunts an Experienced Forward, and Our Juniors Set Off for the Euros

LeBron at 41 holds the whole NBA by the throat - and no one dares move until he decides

When a player with almost four decades on his back can freeze the whole market, that is no longer a career, it is gravity. LeBron James has not yet decided where he continues, and according to ESPN insiders, in the game are Cleveland, Miami and Philadelphia, with Golden State and Minnesota in the background. Former centre Kendrick Perkins claims the decision is not about money: „LeBron isn't looking for a team to move someone who's key to him. It's not about money, it's about the fit.” His agent Rich Paul confirmed all the information is gathered, the teams are clear - but there is no date. And there is the catch: while he waits, half the league waits too, because his signature shifts a dozen other free agents in a domino effect. At 41, LeBron doesn't just play basketball - he conducts the entire market.

Partizan brought in Lamar Stevens - NBA experience for the Serbian project in the EuroLeague

While the EuroLeague beats its chest with NBA names, it is good to remember what is really being bought. Partizan announced the signing of Lamar Stevens to a two-year contract. The 29-year-old American forward comes from Paris, where last EuroLeague season he averaged 9.3 points and 3.3 rebounds in 20 minutes across 23 games. Before Europe, Stevens put together a six-year NBA career across Cleveland, Boston and Memphis - 305 games in total, 55 of them as a starter, averaging 5.7 points. He is not a star who fills arenas, but what every coach quietly wants: a reliable, versatile defensive forward who can guard several positions. The black-and-whites are building a team for the top of the table - and it is exactly players like this, not the names on the front pages, who decide the series.

Žalgiris got a million euros more from the city - the model that sounds like a fairy tale to us

Here is a story worth reading twice. Žalgiris of Kaunas will get a million euros more a year from the city - the budget of two million jumps to three, as a reward for one of the best seasons in recent history. The club won everything at home (the „King Mindaugas” Cup and the Lithuanian title) and finished fifth in the regular part of the EuroLeague. The mayor of Kaunas said what is rarely heard here: „Žalgiris has become part of the identity of both the city and the whole country.” Club president Paulius Jankūnas called the municipality's support „extremely significant”. A city that deliberately invests in its club because it carries the country's name in the world - how many municipalities in the Balkans would do the same, instead of waiting for the club to survive on its own?

Macedonian juniors set off for the Euros in Croatia - Division B, but with a dream of the elite

Future basketball is not built with transfers, but with exactly these matches. The Macedonian junior national team (U18) from tomorrow (24 July) competes at the European Championship, Division B, in Croatia - in Rijeka and Opatija, until 2 August. The selection of Miodrag Todorović is in Group D with Georgia, Sweden, Hungary and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the start is immediate - against Georgia on 24 July at 20:30. Twenty-two national teams play at the championship, and the three best from Division B move up to the elite Division A. „The atmosphere in the team is excellent, at the highest level, the whole focus is on the first match,” Todorović said before departure. Promotion is a realistic goal - and it is built match by match, not with big words.

MZT Skopje with the schedule for ABA2 - three competitions, one ambition

Our basketball has news that matters too. MZT Skopje has learned the schedule for the new season in the ABA2 league, played with four groups. The Skopje side starts at home against Sloboda on 30 September, and in the group they drew opponents from Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro. The club announces a triple alternating load - ABA2, FIBA Europe Cup and the home Superleague - with an open message that work is intense on completing the squad. Group winners go directly to the playoffs, and second and third place through qualifiers. The ambition exists, the budgets are modest - and that is exactly why every new player and every match are measured twice as much as in the big leagues.