Nenad Dimitrijević on his Aris debut: 20 points and top scorer on the team

The best Macedonian basketball player opened his Thessaloniki chapter exactly as everyone hoped. In his friendly debut for Aris against Vikos Falcons, Nenad Dimitrijević put up 20 points and was the top scorer in a team that won 97:80. And that in a match where coach Vassilis Spanoulis could not count on several of his players - so Neno stepped straight into the role they intended for him. Next comes a tournament in Nicosia, with the final pre-season test from 20 to 22 September in Thessaloniki. Only a week earlier Neno recorded a historic triple-double in Macedonia's away win over Austria. Does anyone still doubt he earned the move?

A campaign to name the Ohrid arena after Antonio Savevski

The initiative started from the ground up, like most such things here: a call for the sports hall in Ohrid to bear the name of Antonio Savevski, the man who defined Macedonian basketball. The argument is simple - the country owes him a debt it has not paid. The problem with initiatives like this in Macedonia is equally familiar: they usually live a few days in the media, then enter a municipal procedure and fall silent there. The question is not whether Savevski deserves it, but how long the institutions will take to acknowledge it. The answer is usually measured in years, not in council sessions.

Jonas Valančiūnas left Žalgiris' friendly injured

Žalgiris won their third pre-season game against Azerbaijan's Sabah Baku by a wide 112:78 and hit 19 threes, but the evening ended with an unpleasant image. Towards the end of the first quarter, centre Jonas Valančiūnas collided with team-mate Marius Grigonis and immediately left the court holding the lower part of his right leg. He spent the rest of the first half on the bench with ice, and after the break he did not return at all - he stayed in the dressing room. In the first two pre-season games, against Riga Zelli and Juventus Utena, the former NBA centre averaged 17 points and 9 rebounds. For a club whose entire structure this season rests on his presence under the basket, this is the worst possible news at the worst possible moment - weeks before the start.

Kevin Punter went from Partizan captain to Barcelona captain

The former captain of Partizan has taken the same armband at Barcelona, under new coach Aleksandar Sekulić. In an interview with the Spanish paper Sport, Kevin Punter compared the two roles directly: "Being captain of Partizan was madness, and here at Barcelona the people are a bit different, the culture is different." He added that he has no intention of playing somebody else - "I will keep being who I am" - and that he has Joel Parra, Darío Brizuela and Juan Núñez alongside him. The difference between the Belgrade stands and the Palau Blaugrana is bigger than any tactical difference on the court, and Punter knows it. That is the most interesting part of the story: a player who carried the fiercest fan scene in the Balkans now leads a team where the pressure comes from an entirely different direction.

The Clippers are without picks until 2034 and now Garland is on the market

The NBA penalised the Los Angeles Clippers after finding the club had circumvented the salary cap to pay Kawhi Leonard. The penalty is drastic: the team loses its own first-round picks all the way to 2034. The consequence is predictable - according to a report by Sean Deveney for Heavy Sports, the Clippers may now be forced to put Darius Garland on the market simply to recover something in draft picks. Garland arrived in Los Angeles at the 2025/26 trade deadline as part of the James Harden exchange with Cleveland, and in 19 games averaged 19.9 points, 6.4 assists and 2.3 rebounds, limited by a toe problem. This season he will earn 42.1 million dollars. Leonard, meanwhile, is going to Toronto. So the club paid the price in future picks, and the bill is being settled by a player who did nothing wrong.