“Mike James was fired for falling asleep while watching videos.”

Mike James (33 years old, 1.85 meters tall) is one of the best guards in the EuroLeague for years. A deadly scorer (16.1 points on average), he crossed half the continent: from Baskonia to Monaco, passing through Russia’s CSKA Moscow, Italy’s Armani Milan and Greece’s Panathinaikos. He even got his chance in the NBA with the Phoenix Suns, New Orleans Pelicans, and Brooklyn Nets. A succession of great teams he reached after breaking a lot of bricks, having jumped into the void at just 22 when he traded Texas for Croatia to play for defunct KK Zagreb.

An adventure that did not last long, only four months, from August to December. The reason is falling asleep while analyzing matches on video, as he explained in an interview with basketball Miralem Halilovic, James’ teammate during that period in the Croatian national team, which was coached by an old-school coach in Daniel Josup.

“Whether it is communicating with relatives in the United States, video games, or going out… pIro fell asleep two or three times during the video analysis“It was a huge insult to the coach,” says the current Galatasaray player.

“They fired him because he fell asleep several times while analyzing the video. The same Mike James, who was fired in Zagreb, after a few years played for Panathinaikos and then in the NBA. “He ended up getting one,” Halilovic continued about James, who is starting his third season in Monaco. “One of the best careers in Europe, but his beginning was very difficult.”

However, his incident in Croatia is not James’s only notable and controversial episode in his extensive career in Europe. Last season, without going any further, He was suspended by Monaco for celebrating with Dwayne Bacon.