Several hours before JL Bourg took on Panathinaikos at T-Center Athens in the Pavlos Giannakopoulos Tournament, Frederic Fauthoux sat down with SKWEEK at a particularly interesting moment for both the club he coaches and the national team he leads.
Bourg arrived in Athens as the reigning EuroCup champion, only a few months removed from the greatest European achievement in its history. Winning the competition had given the French club the sporting opportunity to move into the EuroLeague, but Bourg ultimately decided against taking that place. For Fauthoux, who earned that opportunity on the court and is entering his final season with the club, the decision brought mixed emotions.
It also reflected the unusual position Bourg now occupies. The defending EuroCup champion has rebuilt again, adding eight new players after another summer of departures, while several competitors have significantly increased their investment. PAOK and Aris are prominent examples, with the latter also signing Adam Mokoka from Bourg’s championship roster. Fauthoux nevertheless refuses to place his own team among the favorites, retaining the outsider identity that accompanied last season’s run.
His return to Athens also connected his club role with his responsibilities as France head coach. Panathinaikos now have four French internationals — Mathias Lessort, Moustapha Fall, Sylvain Francisco and Guerschon Yabusele — working together under Zeljko Obradovic, while Evan Fournier’s relationship with Olympiacos has developed into another major French-Greek connection.
For Fauthoux, there was also a personal element to being back in the building. Thirty years earlier, he had played there against Panathinaikos. This time he returned as a EuroCup-winning coach, preparing to face the Greek club while reflecting on a European basketball model he believes is becoming increasingly driven by business.
In his conversation with SKWEEK, Fauthoux discussed Bourg’s decision to turn down the EuroLeague opportunity, sporting merit and money, PAOK and Aris’ growing EuroCup ambitions, Panathinaikos’ French core and the influence of Obradović, Francisco’s next step, Fournier’s future with France and what Victor Wembanyama still lacks compared with Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“EuroLeague is a big monster”
You won the EuroCup last season and earned the right to participate in this season’s EuroLeague, but Bourg ultimately decided not to take that place. As the coach who earned that promotion on the court, was there a part of you that was disappointed not to test this team at the highest level?
“Yes and no. It would be a good opportunity to play EuroLeague for competitors — players, of course, coaches too — because we won this opportunity on the court. And that is the best thing, because it’s a form of gratitude for the job, for the work during the whole season. But I think it is a good decision by the club, because the EuroLeague is a big monster.
Things are not clear at the moment, because if we play EuroLeague, we can’t play all the games at home. And that is a big difficulty because, for the fans, for the sponsors, for the people in the town, it’s important, but it’s not possible. That is why the decision is good.
For the money, it wasn’t a problem, but if you can’t play all the games at home, money becomes an issue in the end. We would be on the road all season and that’s not possible.
Of course, for the competitors, coaches and players, it’s a little disappointment, but it’s like this. For me, it’s my last season here at Bourg, so I accept the decision and respect the decision of my club.”
“It’s pure business now”
Do you think results on the court and sporting merit are becoming less important compared with the financial resources that wealthier teams have?
“Yes. It’s important to keep this solution. If you win the EuroCup, you can play in the EuroLeague. Everybody is a competitor. OK, money is money. We know now it’s a big business for a lot of people, but we are open. And it is our mentality.
I think, for example, that Panathinaikos’ fans can understand that you can go down, and you can go up. This is our philosophy, I think, and it’s our heritage. Because it’s our education.
“But we know — I know — that sport changes. It’s pure business now, and we must adapt to that, of course. But sometimes I am nostalgic too. I played in this gym 30 years ago against Panathinaikos, and this is a great, great, great moment. We are in Europe, with amazing clubs like Panathinaikos, like Partizan Belgrade. So we must keep this popularity. It’s important.”
“We are not the favorites. We are the underdogs”
Aris and PAOK have been among the most aggressive teams on the EuroCup market, investing heavily this summer, while last season’s EuroCup Final MVP Adam Mokoka also joined Aris. Bourg enter as defending champions but without the same financial power. Do you still consider yourselves one of the EuroCup favorites?
“My opinion is exactly like last season. We are the underdogs. Because in Bourg, every time we have a good season, a lot of players go away and change teams. For example, two years ago, it was nine players out of ten.
This season, we have eight new players. So, you know, we build every season. So we are not the favorites. But now we are the underdogs with a target, because we won last season, and it’s not the same spirit. So it’s exciting to defend our trophy, of course. It’s a good thing.
But we know now a lot of teams have built big, big rosters, like PAOK and Aris, for example. But other teams too, like Hapoel Jerusalem and the Italian teams. So it will be very interesting to play.”
The French Panathinaikos core under Obradovic
Panathinaikos now have four French internationals in Mathias Lessort, Moustapha Fall, Sylvain Francisco and Guerschon Yabusele, all working every day under Zeljko Obradovic. As France coach, how valuable can that be? Could playing together for an entire season give France a ready-made core with chemistry?
“It’s very important for them. For us too, because when you play with a great coach like Zeljko Obradovic, it’s always a good experience. You learn all season, and also you play a fantastic competition.
So for French players, it’s a very good experience, and for sure they will improve this season because they’re going to learn a lot and play big games. For the French national team, it’s very important, and they can develop good habits playing together.”
“Panathinaikos is one step more” for Francisco
You know Sylvain Francisco particularly well. You recently described him as a player who has matured enormously. What does Panathinaikos represent as the next step in his career? Do you believe he is now ready to become one of France’s main guards?
“I know him very well because I’m the first coach who put him on the court 10 years ago, in Levallois. Yes, now he’s mature, of course. He showed that in Kaunas, but I think Panathinaikos is one step more. It’s very important for him to drive a big team like Panathinaikos because I suppose they have to work to win the EuroLeague.
In Kaunas, he had his best season but here he can win a trophy. And that is very important for him, to play for Panathinaikos.”
Did you speak with any of the Panathinaikos players during the summer?
“I talked with Sylvain. Not with Mathias, because he wasn’t in the August window, but Mathias knows Sylvain very well. And they are very happy to play for Panathinaikos.”
Fournier and Olympiacos: “Maybe more than 2028”
Evan Fournier has developed a remarkable bond with Olympiacos and its supporters. Did you expect him to connect with Olympiacos and Greek basketball to this extent, and what impact can this stage of his club career have on what he can still give France?
“If he plays like he plays at Olympiacos, he can play for more years instead of retiring in 2028. Evan is an amazing player. He’s a clutch player. He has a lot of experience, and to play the big games, it’s important to have that experience.
And he has a good character. I think in Greece, people like that. And he likes it as well. So I think it’s a good spot and a good moment.”
Wembanyama vs. Jokic and Giannis
You have called Victor Wembanyama the leader of this generation and made him captain. What separates Victor from Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo? What does he still need to develop before he can influence international basketball at their level?
“Only one thing: experience. He’s younger than Nikola Jokic and Antetokounmpo, for example. So, he’s unique. He’s a fantastic basketball player, he’s a great guy.
So this guy can dominate the world if he has good players around him. We are very happy in the French national team — and in France — to have a player like him because he’s unique on the court, but outside the court too.”
Lessort, Fall, Francisco, Yabusele or Fournier?
If Bourg suddenly had the resources to sign one French national-team player currently playing in Greece — Lessort, Fall, Francisco, Yabusele or Fournier — who would you take and why?
“I can’t give you an answer. It’s difficult for me because I like all the players.”
That’s a diplomatic answer.
“Of course, you know that. You can understand. But it’s difficult for French people to see all the French players playing outside France.
It would be exciting to watch them on a French team. So that’s why I say I want all the players, to have the best team with the French players, but it’s not possible. And that’s why we watch the EuroLeague.”