The captain of the French basketball team Nicolas Batum said on Friday that he was in favor of a return to the selection of the leader of the Blues Thomas Heurtel, more selectable since his departure for a Russian club, in an interview for Basket USA unless six months of the World Cup.
“I’ve always said it: Thomas Heurtel, you have to take it because he’ll get you the quarter-time that will save you your competition and sometimes that’s what happened,” said the Los Angeles Clippers winger on the point guard who signed with Zenit Saint Petersburg in September.
Heurtel, passed by Barcelona, Efes Istanbul or Real Madrid, had signed like the other internationals before Euro-2022 a sworn statement “indicating that he was not engaged and that he was not did not consider signing with a Russian or Belarusian club ”, before finally taking the direction of Zenit.
A position shared by Evan Fournier
The president of the French Basketball Federation (FBBB) Jean-Pierre Siutat had indicated on November 1 to L’Equipe that Heurtel would not return to the France team after breaking his commitment, but the manager of the Blues Boris Diaw had then qualify these remarks.
If Heurtel, who has signed up for a season plus an optional one with Zenit, decides to leave Russia at the end of the current financial year, then it would be up to the federal office of the FFBB to decide whether he becomes selectable or not.
Batum, Olympic vice-champion in Tokyo in 2021 with Heurtel, highlighted a “personal choice” of the leader, to the specialized media Basket USA: “We put things on his back, we know very well that he is against, he is not for Russian aggression in Ukraine, let us be in agreement…”
A few days earlier, he had already positioned himself on Twitter in favor of a return of the player trained at Elan Béarnais, just like the back Evan Fournier, another manager of the Blues. In October, Heurtel said he had “completely nothing to give a fuck” about criticism of his departure for Russia, but on February 25, the native of Béziers said he was open to a return to Blue with the daily Ouest -France: “If the Federation calls me, I will be ready”.
“I don’t think it makes sense to be punished for just working at a Russian club,” he said. Thomas Heurtel, 99 selections, occupies a position (leader) where no one has won in his absence a few months before the World Cup to be held in Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan from August 25 to September 10 and a year and a half of the Paris Olympics.