By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
In a long interview with “Upset Media”, Evan Fournier opened up about a season to remember with Olympiacos, addressing many topics, including his close friend Moustapha Fall’s move from Olympiacos to Panathinaikos.
“I had an idea of what was going on”, said Fournier on the matter, having an insight into a very hard decision.
As Fournier explained: “But I want you to know that it was very difficult for him. I had spoken to him, and he told me that it took him a week to get used to the idea of the transfer. Even for me, seeing him now in Green seems strange to me. And since he spent five years at Olympiacos, it must still seem strange now. He made a choice for his family. Obviously, it is a financial choice. It is not a choice that I can judge”.
While Fall wanted to stay with Olympiacos, if the team also wanted him, Fournier added: “His goal was also to play, and because we have a lot of bigs… Look, some people can handle such a change, and others can’t. I hope everything goes well for Mous.”
Fournier also talked about his infamous gesture in the 2025 Greek League Finals, admitting that he lost control.
“Well, I love casinos”, he said jockingly about his hand gesture before addressing the issue.
As he added about Olympiacos and Panathinaikos: “This rivalry is incredible. There’s a toxic environment between the two teams, and it’s astounding, frankly. And it’s a pity because Greek basketball suffers from this. The finals are incredible, and they turned out to be a legal battle, a fight on the court, pressure on the referees, and some of their houses were vandalized. That should be a showcase for Greek basketball, and it’s turned into a complete mess”.
Fournier admitted that there’s a lot of bad blood between the two sides: “I don’t know where it started. They have hated each other for so long that you don’t really know the problem. There’s a long history that I don’t know. But clearly, their owner (ed.note: Panathinaikos owner Dimitris Giannakopoulos) creates an atmosphere that is not good. It’s all about provocations, it’s about insults, and basically, that’s it. The series starts, and everyone is fired up. The fans come and ask us to win, and it’s not about basketball; they want to crush the other team. It goes beyond basketball”.
On a personal note, he elaborated: “When I made this gesture, my wife was shocked; she told me that she had never seen me like this. And it’s true. To put things into context, it’s you against 20.000 persons who are insulting you, and this is part of the game. And then, there’s a really big mistake against me, and I have lost it. I wanted to fight someone, and I saw the courtside fans who were like, “Come on, let’s fight”. So a fuse went off, and I did what I did. And that happened again with Tyrique Jones. And for me, that’s the responsibility of those who are in charge of the organization. When two players are fired up like this, and they are ready to fight, 90% of the time, they mean it, because they are full of adrenaline at that moment. You have to separate them. You must have someone supervising them. If they meet again, you don’t know what may happen. And unfortunately that happened”.
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