Surprising return
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Telekom Baskets bring Javontae Hawkins back to Bonn
Another team: coach Tuomas Iisalo and Javontae Hawkins.
Photo: Jörn Wolter / wolterfoto.de
Bonn In the past successful season, Javontae Hawkins was one of the key players at Telekom Baskets. The Bonn company could not keep him, the offers from the competition were too good. Now he is returning.
In the past few days, an Italian has been simmering in the rumor mill: Davide Alviti. The relevant insiders had identified the 26-year-old from Olimpia Milano as the player that Telekom Baskets decided after a long search to complement the squad after Jeremy Morgan’s injury. Veracity: zero.
This unwanted “diversionary tactic” by the otherwise well-informed basketball portal “Sportando” should have been quite right for the Hardtbergers. Because they were working undisturbed on a much bigger coup. The search took a long time, “now everything went almost by itself and in a very short time,” says Baskets sports manager Savo Milovic. The new one is an old man: Javontae Hawkins is coming back to second place in the Bundesliga.
Hawkins was central games of the successful season
Hawkins was one of the key players in Telekom Baskets’ last successful season. But also one that could not be held after the end of the season. As with Parker Jackson-Cartwright, the competing offers were too strong. Both opted for the first French league. Jackson-Cartwright for Asvel Villeurbanne, Hawkins for CSP Limoges. Neither of them were happy. PJC moved to Besiktas in January, Hawkins is now coming back to Bonn and has a contract until the end of the season.
Only on Friday, during a lecture in the VIP room of the Telekom Dome, Milovic confidently explained how much the Bonn location and its employees are worth when it comes to the pros and cons of contract negotiations: “We may offer less money than some competitors, but we have for players – and their families! – the all-round carefree package. And that’s a real pound.”
This was also true of Hawkins, who was not entirely comfortable with his small family in Limoges. On Monday morning, the French first division club tweeted that Hawkins had asked for clearance. Milovic was already on his way to the Bonn team doctors with the 29-year-old, where Hawkins successfully completed the pre-recruitment examinations.
“I’m very happy with this signing,” says Tuomas Iisalo. The Baskets head coach admits he was a bit taken aback when he got the call from Hawkins’ agent last week. “Basketball Europe knew we were looking,” says Milovic. “And we were also waiting for some feedback, but when this option came up, we sat down and quickly agreed: It doesn’t get any better than this.”
Return of Hawkins: No problem for team chemistry
Despite his individual qualities, Hawkins proved to be a team player last season. The Baskets don’t have to fear catching a team chemistry problem and get a player who already knows the complicated Iisalo basketball, which players get better at the longer they practice it.
“Everything comes to those who can wait,” says something similar in Finnish, says Iisalo and is pleased that the solution sort of flew to him after a long search. “Hawk knows his way around here, the integration process, which can otherwise be a bit stressful, will be easy,” says the coach and adds: “It makes us proud that Hawk said that he only wanted to go to Bonn – although he also had higher-paying offers.” The American and his wife Jessica, who may have been a Bonn advocate, are now parents of Javontae junior.
It is currently unclear whether Hawkins can play against his and the coach’s ex-club Merlins Crailsheim on Thursday (7 p.m., Telekom Dome). In any case, the commitment comes at just the right time before the double burden of the European competition begins again with the game next Wednesday (March 8, 8 p.m., Telekom Dome) against Rytas Vilnius. “If we qualify for the playoffs in the Champions League, we have a brutal program ahead of us,” the Finnish head coach points out.
So it’s good that the minutes can be spread over more shoulders – especially since it’s still unclear when Morgan can get back in after his neck injury and how long it will take him to get back to his old form. Because after the strenuous weeks before carnival with five away games in a row, the batteries needed charging, everyone was looking forward to four days off between the carnival game and Shrove Monday.
Iisalo informed the team about the personnel on Monday morning. The reactions? “Everyone who knows Javontae smiled. I also spoke to the captains Karsten Tadda and Jeremy Morgan and they were very satisfied.” And so that the two internationals in the team would not find out about their new colleague from somewhere, Leon Kratzel – with the German team in Finland – and TJ Shorts, who was traveling with North Macedonia in the World Cup qualifier. About a real coup.
