Ratiopharm Ulm demands FC Bayern in the BBL final. Because Noa Essengue and Ben Saraf are registered for the NBA draft, Ulm has applied for an appointment for a possible game four and five at the league.
The Ratiopharm Ulm basketball players have one of the most renowned talent forces in Europe, which has long since got around to the NBA. Two young stars from the Ulm squad are registered as a hopeful candidate at the NBA-draft, the annual talent exchange in the best basketball league in the world: the Frenchman Noa Essengue and Ben Saraf from Israel.
The fact that the two Ulmer will go into the race at the draft has been clear. The 18-year-old Essengue is even a top 10 pick, one of the first ten players who could be signed by an NBA team. But 19-year-old Saraf could also be selected in the first round of the best 30 talents.
Essengue and Saraf in the BBL final-possible collision with NBA draft
The playoff run of the Ulm, which after the victory in the semi-final series, led her to the BBL final, the team with its two NBA applicants now brings to the bredouille, because the final series may collide with the NBA draft, should go over more than three games. Which seems not unlikely to the duel of the two best teams of the regular season, also the title bearer of the past two years.
The NBA draft, a two-day gala in the New York Barclays Center, takes place on June 25th and 26th. For June 24th and June 26th, the possible final games are four and five in the BBL. So that Saraf and Essengue can be on site in the USA on the big day, these games must be postponed.
The Ulm therefore submitted a proposal for the adaptation of the entire schedule immediately after the decisive victory in the semi-finals against Würzburg, the BBL line “, the BBL line” “The two young basketball players do not forces themselves to choose between two childhood dreams”as the club announced.
Ulm application for Department of appointments: “Finale under sporty fair Requirements “
An answer from the league is still pending. Presumably game four would have to be moved backwards and game five. Or further games would have to be laid and the dates overall tightened so that a final series over five games is safe in front of the NBA draft.
FC Bayern, who would have home rights in a possible game five, would probably have to agree to an appointment change. The Ulm increased the pressure to make decisions again: “We are optimistic that Easycredit BBL and FC Bayern basketball not only take into account the dreams of all young basketball talents, but also a final under sporty prerequisites in which the best of the best compete against each other.”
The situation for Ulm’s young hope bearer Essengue and Saraf is already a balancing act. At the upstream Draft Combine of the NBA in mid-May in Chicago with medical examinations, performance tests and interviews with team-officials, both were allowed to stay away because of a special regulation because they were in the final phase of the season. The consultations with the NBA took place via video count. For the NBA draft, however, they would like to get on the plane, even before a possible game five for the German championship.