For years, Ethan Thompson’s career was about convincing NBA organizations that he belonged at their level.
He went undrafted, moved through Windy City, Mexico City, Osceola and Sioux Falls, survived training camps and temporary contracts and kept going until the Pacers finally opened the door.
Now, Europe asks a different question: what kind of player can he become when the game is more compressed, the possessions more structured, the tactical demands different and every victory carries considerably more weight than a developmental résumé?
Partizan’s new guard arrived in Europe this summer after a journey that included 194 G League appearances before Indiana finally gave him his NBA opportunity in November 2025. Thompson played 32 games for the Pacers, starting 13, and averaged 7.0 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists.
His best performance, fittingly, came against Chicago—the organization where his professional career had begun in the G League—with 24 points and five three-pointers.
But Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade represents something he has never had before: a full season in Europe, EuroLeague basketball and a club where winning rather than individual progression determines how a season is judged.
His first real lessons were already arriving when SKWEEK spoke with him in Athens during the 8th Pavlos Giannakopoulos Tournament.
Partizan experienced both extremes in less than 24 hours. First came a wild 100-99 loss to PAOK, decided by Marcus Foster’s three-pointer at the buzzer after the Serbian team had led 99-95. Thompson scored 13 points in 23:43.
The following day, Partizan responded by dismantling JL Bourg 101-77, with Thompson adding 15 points, three rebounds and two assists and hitting four three-pointers.
For a player trying to understand a new team and a new basketball culture simultaneously, the contrast was useful.
“I think it’s better to learn from these type of games now than they necessarily count for on the record. Any team got to go through some adversity like this throughout the season, so it’s better to find out who we are early than too late.”
The obvious question is precisely who Partizan are at this stage.
“I feel like we’re continuing to move in the right direction. We’re still trying to figure each other out. We haven’t had many games where the complete roster has been together, so still learning each other’s game still very early in the season.”
Learning a different basketball language
The two games that Partizan played in Athens were enough for Thompson to understand that he has entered a different game—and that the level of the people playing it may be considerably closer to the one he just left than many assume.
He had already attracted attention by describing European basketball as more “intellectual” than its NBA counterpart.
After actually stepping onto a European court, he refined the description.
“I think it’s more conceptual, I’ll say. Definitely a lot more we want to run specific actions for specific shots or get the defense in a specific rotation.”
Thompson is not arguing that one game requires intelligence and the other does not. What has struck him is where the complexity lies.
“NBA is a lot more one-on-one. The floor is more open, so I feel like it’s two different games in that way in terms of concept and talent,” he adds.
There is some irony in Thompson being particularly well equipped to notice those differences. Partizan is his first European club, but FIBA basketball itself is not completely foreign to him. He has represented Puerto Rico since the junior levels, appeared at the 2022 AmeriCup and 2023 World Cup and therefore already knew the shorter three-point line, FIBA rules and different spacing before arriving in Belgrade.
EuroLeague, however, adds another layer: sophisticated scouting, experienced coaches and a schedule in which weaknesses rarely remain hidden for long.
Thompson sees the difference in preparation as much as in what happens during a possession.
“I feel like it’s definitely for sure more of a team game out here. I feel like you get in different general basketball for the NBA. I feel like you focus on personnel more than concepts of this is where the team runs and what that is. Definitely, I think that’s the main difference that I’m experiencing.”
His own objective is considerably simpler.
“My expectations are to give my best, whatever it is. I’m a competitor at the end of the day, I don’t like losing. I’m trying to win as many games as I can, no matter what I’ve got to do.”
That mentality should translate easily in Belgrade. Everything else—from spacing to reads, terminology, physicality and the rhythm of a EuroLeague possession—will require adjustment.
From sharing a G League backcourt to Partizan
At least Thompson did not enter that process completely alone.
Before Partizan, Carlik Jones had already shared a backcourt with him for the Windy City Bulls in 2022-23. Jones was the dominant creator and eventually the G League MVP; Thompson learned how to remain productive next to a guard who commanded the ball without needing to dominate possessions himself.
Years later, their paths have converged again at a very different level.
Thompson spoke with Jones before committing to Partizan, while another source of information was even closer to home.
“I have an older brother, Stevie. He’s played overseas for a few years. And kind of going off of his experience, I talked to Carlik before joining Partizan, and I’m also having conversations with guys in the locker room as well. They’re telling me their experience, so it’s a blessing for me.”
Basketball has always been a family affair for Thompson. His father, Stephen, played at Syracuse before a brief NBA career and later became a coach; his older brother Stephen Jr. also became a professional. At Oregon State, Ethan even played alongside his brother with their father on the coaching staff.
Now the education is coming from a different basketball world.
And one element of that world remains impossible to reproduce through conversations: Partizan’s crowd.
“Obviously Partizan have one of the biggest fan bases here in Europe. And I’m looking forward to experiencing it firsthand.”
“The separation is not as far as everybody thinks”
Thompson is entering EuroLeague without pretending to know everything about it. What he does know already is the level of competition awaiting him.
“I know the league is very talented, teams are very well coached. Every single night was like NBA. Every single night you’re going up against great competition.”
The debate over the distance between the NBA and EuroLeague usually gets reduced to talent comparisons. Thompson has recently occupied both environments. He spent years immediately beneath the NBA, eventually earned genuine minutes there and has now begun discovering European basketball from inside one of its biggest clubs.
When initially asked whether EuroLeague was moving toward the NBA, he resisted making a sweeping claim.
“Honestly, I have no idea, to be honest.”
But when the question was narrowed specifically to the basketball being played, his answer changed.
“Playing-wise, definitely. I mean, there’s a lot of talent for sure. I think a lot of the separation in terms of EuroLeague and NBA is not as far as I think everybody thinks.”
It is an intriguing assessment precisely because Thompson is still at the beginning of the experiment.
He has not yet played a EuroLeague game. Nor has he experienced Belgrade on a European night, gone through the grind of a double-game week or discovered what happens when elite European defenses have accumulated months of film on him.
Athens provided only an introduction. But perhaps that is what makes his perspective interesting right now.