Ratiopharm Ulm can crown the German basketball champion. Now it is clear that Ben Saraf will appear for the Ulm, NOA Essengue, on the other hand, is at the NBA draft in New York.
Master match ball or NBA draft? The top talents of the Ulm basketball players have decided: Ben Saraf we played for the Ulmer in game four against FC Bayern, Noa Essenuge is already a NBA draft in New York. “We wish NOA all the best for the NBA draft,” the association wrote on Instagram on Tuesday evening.
Essengue was seen on Monday evening at a PR event on the US magazine “Slam” in Manhattan. Precisory young basketball players were guests. Including Essengue, which was seen in the magazine’s Instagram story.
Until the end, the club kept covered: “You will only see who is on the field in the hall,” said Ulm’s sports director Thorsten Leibenath before the fourth duel on Tuesday (from 8 p.m. in the live stream on SWR Sport) against defending champion Bayern Munich.
Ulmer are still upset
The Ulm had made an application to move the final games four and five (June 24th and 26th) so that Essengue and Saraf can be part of the NBA draft in New York (June 25th and 26th) as well as at the BBL final games. Essengue (18) is considered a top 10 candidate when selecting the talent, and Saraf (19) could also be selected in the first round. The application for the relocation of the games was rejected by the BBL, and Bayern had not agreed either.
Leibenath renewed his criticism of the league. You stay with the “clear positioning”, he said before the duel on Tuesday, which could lead to the second championship title for Ulm after 2023: “Our allegation clearly goes to the league, which traces our players between their dreams with the scheduling.”
Saraf and Essengue have the “free choice”
Ulm had left the “free choice” to the players and did not pose “on the contract content”. It was actually expected that the Munich residents agree. But that didn’t happen. “You always want to win against the best full opponent team,” said Leibenath.
That is why he, spoke to any fan reactions, had no building pain if the team of world championships Gordon Herbert had whistled. “But I think we have a fair audience,” he added.
Ulm leads 2-1 in the final series in which the best-of-five mode is played and could make the second title of the club history perfect with a home win. Ty Harrelson’s team is still unbeaten at home in 2025.
Broadcast on Tue., June 24, 2025 7:30 p.m., SWR Aktuell Baden-Württemberg, SWR BW
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