Yesterday began with Nikola Mirotic as Barça’s main claim in the presentation of the Endesa League final, an act that he ultimately did not attend, and ended with the Balkan virtually out of the club next season. The Barcelona team will begin their assault on the league title today at the Palau Blaugrana against Real Madrid (9:00 p.m.) with their star in the spotlight, not because of their sporting virtues, but because of their future. The situation of the Montenegrin in the Catalan entity was blown up when TV3 announced that the board had decided to end the stage of the power forward by terminating his contract, still two years old, due to his salary, the highest in the squad and of all European basketball. Barça intends to reduce the section’s budget by 25% and the Balkan’s current salary has no place.
The player himself later confirmed, in an interview for Mundo Deportivo, that they do not have him for the following season. “I would have liked it to have been transmitted to me in a different way, at another time, with other people, perhaps from higher up,” said a Mirotic who “at no time” was offered a reduction in his salary. “Why don’t you sit down? Why not listen? Why not see how we can help each other? I am very happy in Barcelona and so is my family. Where am I going to be better? ”, lamented the one from Podgorica, who three years ago already adjusted his salaries when the pandemic reduced Barça’s income.
However, the power forward’s words differ with the Barça version, which is upset with the Montenegrin for airing his situation a day before the final. The club defends that they offered him a reduction in his salary, but the answer was negative. The negotiations, which will probably end with the termination of the contract, began in Kaunas immediately after the painful elimination against Real Madrid in the Euroleague semifinal.
The disagreement between the two parties stems from an economic issue, but it has also affected the player’s poor performance at the crucial moment of the season against the Whites, with only three points and a 10-shot basket in 28 minutes. That game has weighed like a stone in the future of a Mirotic, who arrived in 2019 with the aim of bringing the third Euroleague to the museum windows, and as team leader he has failed in his three attempts to assault the European throne, always lost in the final four.
The Montenegrin will have the opportunity to make up for it by adding another league title to his Blaugrana record (one League and two Cups). “This comes out today (yesterday), but from within we have been talking for a long time. His response on the track has been incredible. He is involved in what he must do. We have seen his total dedication against Unicaja and Valencia. He knows how to differentiate ”, defended the Blaugrana coach, Sarunas Jasikevicius, to his still pupil in the presentation of an ACB final that, except for surprise, will be the bittersweet epilogue of Mirotic in Barcelona. “I want people to know that I am going to live my last games with Barça”, sentenced the power forward.
