Betclic Elite: the League advances the playoffs due to Wembanyama’s NBA draft

2023-05-11 20:42:28

The change is now ! According to information from the specialized site freeket, that we are able to confirm, the steering committee of the National Basketball League (LNB), meeting on Wednesday, announced the change of date for the next final stages of the French championship. Club leaders were informed of the changes to the schedule in the evening, after Monaco’s victory against Maccabi Tel-Aviv in the quarter-finals of the Euroleague and their historic qualification for the Final Four of the event.

The new official calendar should be communicated to the clubs in the coming hours after discussions with beIN Sports, broadcaster of the championship.

Initially scheduled for May 23 and 24, the first quarter-finals of Betclic Elite will finally begin on May 20 and 21. Monaco, which will be on these dates in Kaunas (Lithuania), venue of the Euroleague Final Four, will launch its series on May 24 with the challenge of catching up.

The stated objective of these changes is to complete the playoffs by June 20 at the latest and thus allow Victor Wembanyama – but also his partner Bilal Coulibaly – to be present during a possible 5th decisive match in the event of a qualification of the Metropolitans for the final. Originally this final – and hypothetical – meeting was scheduled for June 24, the day after the NBA Draft in New York (on the night of June 22 to 23 in France) which should crown the Mets prodigy and which will also be present Coulibaly.

In 2017, Franck Ntilikina, then a player in Strasbourg under the orders of Vincent Collet, flew away just after game 4 of the championship final to participate in the NBA Draft – he was chosen in 8th position by the Knicks of New York – before returning just before the deciding match. A meeting finally lost by the Strasbourgeois.

A second match at the Accor Arena in the pipes

The LNB therefore decided to respond favorably to the request of the leaders of the Metropolitans who had sent a letter to the body in April to request the modification of the dates of the playoffs to “preserve the sporting fairness of the final and would allow Victor Wembanyama to fly away in due time for the draft”, had pleaded the club. “If we were qualified for the final and the calendar remains as it is, the non-participation of Victor Wembanyama in all the meetings of the final because of Draft would give a very bad image of the Betclic Elite, of the LNB and French basketball, ”explained President Alain Bouvard in a letter that we revealed.

“With Monaco qualifying for the Final Four of the Euroleague, this is second good news for French basketball, Alain Bouvard assures us this Thursday. It’s more consistent that Victor stays until the end and can play in the final if we qualify. The Mets, who still have two games to play before the end of the regular season, currently occupy 2nd place in Betclic Elite behind Monaco.

In addition, after the success of the event match at the Accor Arena against Bourg on May 7 in front of more than 15,000 spectators, the club is considering the possibility of returning to the lair of French spectator sport to play one (or two) playoff games.

“We inquired and there are two dates available, May 30 and June 11, says Alain Bouvard. But all of this comes at a significant cost.around 300,000 euros all inclusive) and it will be a big challenge for the club’s teams because we won’t have much time to organize it and sell tickets. We are thinking about it seriously, we are preparing, but we are already waiting to know our final ranking, our opponent and the calendar to see the shooting windows. The other condition will be above all to qualify for the semi-finals. So there are matches to be won first. A challenge that Victor Wembanyama and his partners intend to take up.