After a defeat in the finals of the Italian championship with Marco Belinelli's Virtus Bologna, several options were available to Gabriel “Iffe” Lundberg. One of them was to join the Boston Celtics, who had just won the NBA. But it is a proposal that the Danish player declined, for the benefit of Partizan Belgrade.
“There are so many good things to say about Partizan Belgrade, but above all, the game fits my style perfectly,” Judge Iffe Lundberg. “They have been following me for a long time and want to use me in my favorite position. Partizan Belgrade has had me on their radar for a long time, and they have asked me to join them several times in recent years. »
Partizan Belgrade, which Frank Ntilikina has also just joined, will want to do better this season. With 16 wins for 18 losses in the regular season, Zeljko Obradovic's men did not reach the “play-in” in the Euroleague and lost 3-0 in the finals of the local championship against Red Star Belgrade. But after several unsuccessful attempts, the player finally managed to reach an agreement with the Serbian club.
Preference for playing time
“This is actually the third time Partizan has contacted me, hopefully it ended up happening,” he reveals. “I’m very excited about what I’m going to do now. I have to play for the best coach and in front of the best fans, on the best pitch. It’s going to be wild.”
It should be remembered that the Danish leader has already been to the NBA in special circumstances. In 2022, the point guard/guard left CSKA Moscow at the time of the invasion of Ukraine to join the Suns on a “two-way contract”. Iffe Lundberg then had a very limited role with the Suns, playing only four games, which he did not want to experience again in Boston.
“The Boston Celtics have been very honest and transparent in their approach to me. I would have become something like the 15th man in the team and really only a practice player,” affirms the Dane, who assures that the choice was ultimately very simple. “So they weren’t offering me guaranteed playing time or opportunities. This no longer works for me. I need playing time on the field. »
