By Niki Bakouli/ bakouli@eurohoops.net
Dimitris Diamantidis answered the questions of the Greek media in a joint interview via internet in order to promote the basketball academy GBA, which he founded together with former teammates Lazaros Papadopoulos and Nikos Chatzivrettas. Nobody expected big news by such an interview, but Diamantidis surprised everyone by announcing that he wants to stay for Panathinaikos, despite his contract ending this summer: “I am not thinking of leaving. I want to stay in Panathinaikos“.
He was asked if the changes in the team, the reduced budget and the fact that Obradovic left made he reconsider his priorities. His answer was simple: “I was troubled by the situation, with players and coaches leaving. I wanted to see how things would turned out, but I never thought of leaving. I was just thinking about all this stuff that happened last summer and what we would do. I am here, I am part of this new effort and we are all trying our best”.
Despite being a free agent in the summer, Diamantidis seems ready to re-sign with Panathinaikos, even if Obradovic returns to the bench of an other team and asks him to follow him. As he said in this specific question: “I don’t want to leave Panathinaikos. My wish is to stay here”. Diamantidis has the biggest contract in the team with a 2 million euros annual salary and considering the track record of his negotiations with Panathinaikos, nobody can exclude the possibility of the two sides already having a deal in place for his next contract.