Big names, bright lights: NBL welcomes European spectacular

The Sydney Harbour skyline was lit up on Monday night with a one-of-a-kind drone show that was perfectly fitting for enormity of the announcement.

Two European basketball giants in Panathinaikos and KK Partizan will head to Australia later this year as part of the Pavlos Giannakopoulos Tournament.

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If there’s one person who will feel the magnitude of this moment, its former Sydney Kings big man Aleks Maric, who is one of the few who also played for both the European powerhouses.

“Two of the European heavyweights and my local Sydney Kings team,” he said. “Being able to showcase this game to the local and national community is awesome and we’re very privileged for this.”

In terms of what the atmosphere will be like when the two teams first meet at John Cain Arena, before heading to Sydney to play the Kings and Adelaide 36ers, Maric says it will be incredibly special.

“It’s just something that you have to experience,” he said

“It should be one of the Seven Wonders of the World when you go and travel on a sporting calendar. It’s something very, very special.

“You can’t really explain it until you live it. You’ve got 20-22,000 fans screaming and yelling and supporting where you’ve got no choice but to leave everything out on the floor when you play.”

Maric is just one of many past Australians to have represented BC Partizan in recent years, which includes players like Jock Landale, Nate Jawai and Dante Exum.

BC Partizan President Ostja Mijailovic believes this historic moment is going to help strengthen the Serbian community and fan base here in Australian.

“We look forward to meeting all Australian basketball fans and showing them what we’re all about, and we also look forward to reconnecting with our expatriates and those with Serbian heritage who we hope will come out in strong support,” he said.