It is the middle of July and Partizan has still not announced a signing. For now, the players the club has failed to land are drawing more attention than those expected to arrive. The contrast with the summer of 2021 is difficult to ignore.
The Summer That Changed Partizan’s Market Power
Partizan was not in the Euroleague then. The club was preparing for the Eurocup, yet Kevin Punter and Zach LeDay left Milan for Belgrade only weeks after playing at the Euroleague Final Four. Rodions Kurucs and Aleksa Avramović followed, with Mathias Lessort arriving during the season. Partizan’s sporting position was weaker than it is today, but the club carried something in the market that often made up for it: Željko Obradović had returned.
Not every signing made during his five years worked out. Frank Kaminsky, PJ Dozier and Jabari Parker came with strong reputations, but Partizan never received what it had expected from them. A deal for Nikola Mirotić was close before it collapsed. There were also mistakes in the way the teams were put together, particularly in the final two seasons, when the individual talent did not always add up to a balanced side.
Even so, Partizan under Obradović and sporting director Zoran Savić regularly found a way into conversations with established Euroleague players and those coming from the NBA. James Nunnally, Dante Exum and Ioannis Papapetrou were part of the team that came within one win of the Final Four. Carlik Jones, Sterling Brown, Isaac Bonga and Dwayne Washington arrived later. Those signings showed that Belgrade could remain an attractive destination even when Partizan did not have the highest offer on the table.
The Obradović Advantage Is Gone
Obradović’s name was central to that appeal. Players knew who would be coaching them, what kind of responsibility they could earn and what a good year under him might do for the next stage of their careers. There was less uncertainty in the decision.
Savić’s role should not be reduced to simply working beside a famous coach. He still had to maintain relationships, negotiate contracts and find alternatives when the original plan failed. Their work did not always produce a balanced roster, but it gave Partizan access to a level of player the club is now struggling to reach.
The Targets That Slipped Away
This summer has gone differently. Armoni Brooks came close to joining Partizan before changing course and signing a two-year contract with ASVEL. Talks with Patty Mills did not produce an agreement. Neither did the attempts to sign Eugene Omoruyi, Oshae Brissett and Cory Joseph.
Zach LeDay was open to a return at one point, but Hapoel Tel Aviv eventually offered him $5.8 million over two seasons. Partizan could not match that figure, and there is little sense in criticizing the club for refusing to follow Hapoel into that kind of bidding. But once LeDay is added to Brooks and the other negotiations that went nowhere, it becomes clear that Partizan is having more trouble landing its leading targets this summer.
Partizan has agreed to deals with Nikola Tanasković, Kyle Allman, Derek Willis, Kevarrius Hayes and Alessandro Pajola. All five can help. They bring different qualities and should fill some of the gaps created by the large number of departures. What they do not yet provide is a clear answer to who will carry the team alongside Carlik Jones when the level rises in the Euroleague.
Jones’ Warning Changes the Mood
Jones’ public reaction made the situation more serious. After watching almost every important player from last season leave, Partizan’s best player said that what was happening did not seem normal to him. His contract extension had been presented as the starting point for the next team. Since then, Sterling Brown, Isaac Bonga, Dwayne Washington, Dylan Osetkowski, Nick Calathes, Bruno Fernando and several other players with significant roles have gone.
His message does not necessarily mean there is an open dispute inside the club, but it does suggest that the summer has developed differently from what he expected when he agreed to stay. At the very least, Partizan’s most important player has not been convinced by what he has seen so far.
The market is more difficult than it was several years ago. Dubai and Hapoel Tel Aviv have large budgets, while clubs outside the Euroleague are spending more aggressively. PAOK and Aris are trying to restore some of the old weight of Greek basketball beyond Athens and Piraeus. Beşiktaş and Hapoel Jerusalem can offer major contracts, and ambitious projects in Rome are again being discussed. Players no longer have to choose the Euroleague to receive a high salary, a leading role and a club prepared to build around them.
That also matters. But the market alone does not account for the difference between this summer and those that came before it. Obradović gave players a reason to choose Partizan that was not written into the salary. His authority in the locker room, his history with elite players and his ability to give them a defined place in the team carried genuine value. At times, it allowed the club to overcome a financial disadvantage or the fact that other teams could offer a more secure route to trophies.
Partizan Needs a New Argument
That advantage no longer exists. The first summer without Obradović and Savić has already shown how much of Partizan’s strength in the market was tied to them, even before the roster is complete.
There is still time to change the picture. Two or three strong signings would raise the level of the team and make the first half of the summer less important than it looks today. But Partizan can no longer rely on one coach’s reputation to close the distance between its offer and a better one elsewhere. The club now has to build a different case for why top players should choose Partizan and Belgrade.