BBL: Theodore back in Frankfurt: arbitrariness of the Russian club and 26 hours of travel – basketball

As if he had never been away.

Jordan Theodore (33) is back with the Frankfurt Skyliners after seven years of touring through Europe with stops in Italy, Turkey, Italy and Russia. The American was re-signed in the relegation battle of the basketball Bundesliga and turned up the heat from the first minute. In his very first game, he single-handedly brought his team to victory in Rostock with 26 points.

The transfer of the build-up player was on the brink for a long time.

Because Theodore last played for the Russian club BC Samara. The commitment became a battle of nerves and a fight against time because the Russian club and the association opposed each other and did not cooperate with the Skyliners.

“We won the European Cup with him in 2016 and then never lost sight of him. Theodore is an extremely important piece of the puzzle for our team, which is why the nail-biter about his commitment was all the more intense for us,” said Frankfurt’s managing director Yanick Binas to SPORT BILD. The attempt to get him has always been there: “But that was beyond our possibilities. Now a lot has just fitted together.”

If Samara had qualified for the play-off, the way to Frankfurt would have been blocked. But the team lost the crucial last game in the fight for the knockout rounds, Theodore’s contract ended with the final whistle. He reported to Frankfurt and volunteered because “he wanted to go home”. The Skyliners still had a free foreigner license to issue, everything was fine. Almost everything, because the Russians didn’t play along at first.

“That happened very quickly with his agent and him within two days, and then he was already on his way to Frankfurt,” says Binas. It was a complicated path.

Because of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, there is no direct air traffic from Russia to Germany. Theodore had to fly to Germany via Tajikistan and Turkey and only landed in Frankfurt after a 26-hour travel time on Thursday.

The contract, which was valid until the end of the season, had long since been signed. Theodore didn’t have the playing permit in his pocket yet. “On the one hand, there is the side between the player and the club, which usually has an agent in between. If we then agree, we submit a release application to the German Basketball Association and request permission for the player to play,” says Binas.

This all worked without any problems. Next, the DBB turned to the Russian association with a request for approval. What is actually a mere formality became an annoying struggle over time for the Frankfurters because the Russians did not react.

“The club is forced to give the release if there are no contractual regulations to the contrary. But you can take your time if you want. And of course Samara had no time pressure at all, but we did because of the deadlines. Samara and the Russian federation then opposed each other a bit,” says Binas.

In addition to uncooperative Russians, the calendar also made the transfer more difficult. The last day of the transfer window was March 31, a Friday. The employees of the associations are also looking forward to the weekend. Theodore should have been registered by 7pm to play against Alba Berlin on April 2nd. And by 24:00 at the latest in order to even get a playing permit.

“We had already signed and initiated everything on Tuesday. We would have liked to have used him against Berlin, but that was prevented by the transfer hic-hack,” says Binas. Without Theodore, the Skyliners lost the home game against the league leaders 61:79.

The redeeming news only came on Monday, a day after the defeat against Alba. Samara and the Russian association gave her the OK, probably also because the world association made it clear that Frankfurt was clearly right on all points on the transfer issue.

“But we grew a few gray hairs between Friday and Monday. The whole thing was not cooperative, the whole situation was dubious, ”said Binas. The Skyliners were a bit at the mercy of the Russian club and the Russian association: “The German league, the German association and the world association were all super committed, but the Russian side was such a black box.”