President Herbert Hainer and FC Bayern no longer want to watch other clubs win the title in the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL). “It’s enough now that we haven’t become German champions four times in a row,” said Hainer shortly before the start of the season on Friday: “It’s clear that we want to move into the SAP Garden as German champions.”
The Munich team will be moving to the new hall for the 2024/25 season. The turnaround should succeed before then. “We are not satisfied with last season,” emphasized Hainer, Bayern had simply failed in the play-off semi-finals against eventual champions ratiopharm Ulm and had clearly missed the quarter-finals in the EuroLeague. The ambitious club only triumphed in the BBL Cup.
“We want to defend the cup. Play-offs in the EuroLeague must be our goal,” said Hainer. Managing director Marko Pesic is also ambitious for the season: “I definitely want to become German champion. What happened last season – congratulations to Ulm – must not happen to us again.”
“It was a very, very hard end to the season. That hurt our pride,” said Pesic. Bayern would also “attack” in the EuroLeague. We will be an unpleasant opponent. How far that leads depends on a lot of things.”
Everyone responsible for the new coach Pablo Laso is happy with the squad. “We have a completely revamped team with a superstar,” said Hainer: “We got exactly the players we had on the list.” Including Serge Ibaka, a former NBA champion.