Pander: “I could easily go to the NBA, but it’s a risk”

He is one of the top Americans in Europe, but at NBA he has not won a position, nor has he recently tried his luck. The reason for him Kevin Panderwho explained why he chooses the… safety and big contracts of the Euroleague over the glory but with a lot of uncertainty that exists in his homeland.

“I could easily go to the NBA, but financially I wouldn’t be able to have the things I dream of. When I was young, I had two dreams, to play in the NBA and take care of my family. Over time I realized that these two dreams could not be combined. I had to evaluate what is more important. After all, you can’t play basketball forever. And when your career is over, you want to have something left. You shouldn’t let basketball take advantage of you, you have to take advantage of it. The most important thing is to have a house and provide for your family. It’s important for me to play a lot and to be able to take care of my family. When I first came to Europe I was getting $40,000 a year. To get a million contract I had to reach the sixth season of my career. It took me five years“, emphasized the ace of Partizan.

“If I had the right offer, the right role, even if I lost some money, I would consider trying the NBA. Every summer is something that torments me, but I would leave a lot behind for something uncertain. There is no point in doing such a thing. That’s why I live in Europe. You stay with what you have, in your cache. In the NBA it’s like you’re in handcuffs, you can be kicked out at any time. I feel like I could play a lot better than a lot of players there, but I wouldn’t have the same payoff“, he added.

Finally, he referred to the push that Zeljko Obradovic gave him. “It helped me a lot mentally to go to a higher level. It made me think more. It’s not about the points, it’s about the decisions. He himself may not have realized how much, but he has helped me a lot to go to the next level».