NextGen EuroLeague Ulm: The story of a new basketball god, a new scoring king, a rekindling of the spirit of Pele and a final shootout for the ages.
The 2024-25 Adidas NextGen EuroLeague Ulm definitely will go down in history as a debut tournament. But fans watching the competition in Germany witnessed a spectacular event. Here a rundown.
The famed Adidas NextGen EuroLeague made its debut in the basketball development hotbed Ulm, and the third stop of the 2024-25 season tour did not disappoint. The three days in southwestern Germany witnessed the next chapter of an indescribable saga for Europe‘s next generational talent, a historic scoring performance, the world breakout of a German star prospect with links to one of the greatest legends in world football history, and a shoot-out for the ages to decide the winners.
NextGen Ulm was anticipated as the best of the first three tournaments with two former U18 continental champions - FC Barcelona and Zalgiris Kaunas - as well as German hosts ratiopharm ulm, French talent factory LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne and the always highly-talent Next Gen selection team.
And the tournament, which also included ALBA Berlin, Olympiacos Piraeus and Dubai Basketball, lived up to the hype.
The Orange Campus - Ulm’s impressive basketball facility which opened in 2020 - wowed observers from the very start. There are three courts on the ground floor to go with a workout gym for the team, another gym for the public, a restaurant and a merchandise shop with bistro.
There are two more private gyms on the upper floors of the building as well as office space for the Ulm coaches and club staff as well as meeting rooms - which companies and individuals can rent out for event - and office space for companies in the top floors. Outside there is a play area for kids, a workout area with metal weights and a basketball court - all snuggled along the Danube River.
A new basketball god has arrived
The biggest buzz around the tournament was Mohamed Dabone, Spain’s 2011-born uber-talent, who burst onto the scene at the NextGen Finals in Berlin last May. Dabone was coming off an MVP showing at the U14 Spanish Mini-Copa in February 2024, when he averaged 18.3 points (35/41 on 2-pointers/85.3%), 13.5 rebounds, 4.3 blocks and a PIR of 34.8 in just 16:37 minutes per game. His performance was topped by 22 points, 26 rebounds, 5 steals and 6 blocks and a PIR of 48 against Real Madrid in the Final.
The long, lanky big man then wowed the junior tournament spectators as the 12-year-old collected 11.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in three NextGen games against players as many as 6 years older than him - since his 13th birthday wasn’t until October. That led to articles online splashing out headlines such as “Half-Giannis, Half-Wemby” in reporting about Dabone.
Since then, Dabone had tortured Real Madrid twice more. He scored 31 points with 19 rebounds, 4 blocks and a PIR of 45 against Madrid at the U16 International Basketball Tournament Villa de La Orotava last October. Dabone then had 20 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks in a 93-81 win over Real in the Final of the U16 Sant Vicenç de Montalt (Barcelona) on January 26.
Everyone wanted to see Dabone. Everyone.
And the basketball world had to wait and wait and wait to actually see him. A minor back issue kept Dabone on the sidelines for Barcelona’s first two games - admittedly two contests the Spanish giants didn’t need him, versus Berlin and Olympiacos which ended in wins by 53 and 48 points, respectively.
The most-posted comment in the Live Chat of EuroLeague’s YouTube stream during those two games was “Is dabone playing?” The second most-posted comment was “Why is Dabone not playing?”
Scouts from more than 20 NBA teams were at Orange Campus also anxiously awaiting a Dabone appearance. Most of them left for the fifth game of Day 2 - ALBA versus Olympiacos - to see ratiopharm ulm play against Syntainics MBC in a German league game. They wanted to see Ulm’s two NBA prospects Ben Saraf and Noa Essengue play - though Essengue did not appear in the game due to a leg issue suffered during Ulm’s last BKT EuroCup game.
But the scouts had made it back to the Campus in time for the final game of the group stage - Barcelona versus Next Gen Team Ulm.
The fans online were just dying to see Dabone: “If Dabone not playin i will crash out” said one follower and antoher added: “where tf is number 60 my glorious king dabone haha”.
The basketball world finally got their treat with 1:18 minutes left in the first quarter when Dabone was subbed in. Just 28 seconds after entering the game the youngster drained a smooth three-pointer and 1 minute into his first appearance Dabone came up with a brutal blocked shot.
Here a selection of the Live Chat comments after that: “Omg my king”; “dabone so goated”; “already mvp in 1min”; “dabone is out of this world”; “you are right he is a monster”; dabone is next level” as well as just simply “daboooooooooooooooone”.
Dabone ended up picking up 9 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block in under 10 minutes against NGU. After the game, the young kids in Ulm were surrounding Dabone - really just a couple years older than them - wanting selfies and autographs.
Those kids just wanted to cherish the moment, burn a magical memory into their mind, secure evidence that they were there when Dabone was only barely Dabone.
The youngsters only cared about the presence of a great talent. They didn’t care about those out there questioning his age (just put “Mohamed Dabone real age” into Google). And actually, neither really did the NBA scouts.
The professional evaluators agree there is enormous potential in Dabone - regardless of how old he is. Besides the high level of skill that the youngster is already showing, he also is still very thin with not much muscle mass, meaning he will mature into his body and make him even more lethal.
Dabone ended up playing 17 minutes in the first place game against Zalgiris Kaunas and tallied 8 points on 4/9 shots to go with 12 rebounds - 6 of those from the offensive glass - and 1 steal for an index rating of 11. And that at age 13 against up to 18 year olds and dealing with a back issue that was bad enough for the club to keep him out of the first two games for at least precautionary reasons.
Yet, some people were actually kind of disappointed and expected more. That just goes to show how big the hype surrounding Mohamed Dabone is. He is clearly the next must-watch talent in Europe.
A new scoring king - Adam Atamna
While Dabone was ever present on people’s minds both before and during the tournament, Adam Atamna was a name probably many people did not know - though those in the youth basketball world knew him very well.
The ASVEL guard played so well in the French U18 and U21 leagues the last two seasons that the club and Atamna’s circle decided he would be best served playing this season against adults in the French NM1 third division league - also where the famed French academy CFBB INSEP Paris play their games. Atamna is averaging 9.4 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists for LyonSO this season.
In Ulm, Atamna made history. He started the tournament with 29 points against Zalgiris - to go with 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals. Albeit, not even his scoring could keep ASVEL from collapsing in the second half. The French side led by 21 points early in the third quarter but ended up scoring just 15 points in the second half in losing to Zalgiris 84-70. He followed that with 30 points against Ulm in a 96-77 loss and then poured in 30 points with 10 rebounds in an 87-75 victory over Dubai.
The fifth place game in a NextGen EuroLeague tournament usually hasn’t had loads of meaning over the years, but Atamna changed that in the game against Olympiacos. The ASVEL guard had 13 points after 10 minutes. He added 10 more in the second quarter and by the end of the third quarter, Atamna had put his total to 30 points. He ended up scoring 43 points in an 84-75 victory for ASVEL.
Atamna’s final scoring average ended up being 33.0 points - a new NextGen EuroLeague record for scoring average in a qualifying tournament. That surpassed the 28.8 points per game that 1998-born Milos Popovic averaged for Buducnost VOLI Podgorica in 2015-16 Belgrade.
“I am proud of myself. I worked hard for this moment. It feels good,” Atamna said after the game.
Tournament full of family connections
Adam Atamna is not the only basketball player in his family. His father Karim Atamna played more than 20 years in France – more than 10 of those seasons in the second division – before retiring in 2021.
But Atamna is not the only player in Ulm who had family connections to the game.
Atamna’s teammates Philibert Loussavouvou (2007-born) and Appolinaire Loussavouvou (2008-born) are brothers and there is a third brother coming up with 2010-born Luflore Loussavouvou.
Hosts Ulm could have re-named themselves “All in the Family”. Teo Milicic is the son of Poland’s national team head coach Igor Milicic Sr. Older brother Igor Milicic Jr plays for Tennessee in the NCAA and with the Polish senior national team, and 2006-born brother Zoran Milicic plays for Ulm and was in the NextGen tournament last year.
Niko Jerkic’s 2010-born brother Roko Jerkic was in the preliminary squad for the NextGen tournament and has already played for Germany at an unofficial U16 national team event.
Oliver Kullamäe’s father is former Estonian veteran national team star Gert Kullamäe and Oliver is the younger brother of current Estonian international Kristian Kullamäe. Noah Stansbury Daleiden is the son of former NBA start Terrence Stansbury; and Yanu Slingerland’s father is Kees Slingerland, who was a long-time national team player for Netherlands in Korfball and is a world and European champion in the sport.
Another brother connection was Next Gen team member Ilja Kurucs, whose Latvian siblings are Rodions Kurucs and Arturs Kurucs - Rodions even winning the NextGen continental title in 2016 with Barcelona. While Barcelona’s Raul Villar's older brother is 2004-born Barcelona player Rafa Villar.
There were a number of Lithuanians with family connections as well.
Zalgiris’ Ignas Stombergas had an incredible first game in his NextGen career with 31 points and 21 rebounds for a PIR of 49. He just missed becoming the 18th player in NextGen history to have a 50 index rating. Ignas’ father is Saulius Stombergas - the 1999 EuroLeague champion with Zalgiris who also won two Olympic bronze medals (1996 and 2000) with Lithuania as well as the 2003 FIBA EuroBasket title.
Barcelona’s Emiis Prekevicius is the son of Marius Prekevicius, who played for Lithuania at the 2008 Olympics and also won the FIBA U21 World Cup 2005 title and finished second at the FIBA U19 World Cup 2003 - losing in the final to Australia and Andrew Bogut. Prekevicius’ teammates at the U19 World Cup included Linas Kleiza, Paulius Jankunas and Jonas Maciulis.
The other Lithuanian with a family connection in the game was Ignas Urbonas, who helped Rytas Vilnius win the Youth Basketball Champions League title last season and last April became the second youngest player to ever debut for Rytas in country’s top league - at 16y 4m 27d, behind only Evaldas Kairys (16y 1m 6d). Ignas’ father is Zydrunas Urbonas, who himself played basketball from 1993 to 2012 in Lithuania, Russia, Latvia, Greece, Cyprus and Ukraine and was named the LKL season MVP in 2001 playing for BC Siauliai. Zydrunas, who is the head coach at BC Siauliai, even had his Number 8 jersey retired for Juventus Utena.
Davi Remagen and his connection to Pele
And then there is Davi Remagen of the Next Gen team. The German star prospect was named to the All-Tournament Team in his first club exposure on the big stage. He poured in 15.8 points on 53.8% three-point shooting, 3.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists for an average index rating of 17.2.. He did star for Germany at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2023 as he collected 14.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.1 steals as the country finished fifth to reach the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup.
That came after Remagen absolutely exploded onto the German youth hoops stage, winning the U16 JBBL league season MVP with 31.7 points, 12.7 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 2.7 steals in the season and guiding his club RheinStars Köln to the JBBL Final Four for the first time. In the Semi-Finals against ALBA Berlin, Remagen put on a spectacular show with 41 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 steals. But it was not enough in an 84-79 loss as JBBL Final Four MVP Mathieu Grujicic - who starred in Ulm with Barcelona and won the MVP award - collected 35 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists in the victory.
Remagen had not really had a chance to become a bigger name as he missed essentially three of the past four seasons with injuries.
Finally fully healthy, Remagen this season is collecting 7.4 points, 2.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.2 steals in the German ProB third division including 26 points, 7 assists and 4 steals against Oberhaching. And he is dominating with 28.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.6 steals in five NBBL U19 games.
Remagen’s mother Debora is Brazilian and is a professional jazz, modern, Afro dancer who has been in Germany since 1997. Debora’s mother is Mária Lúcia Arantes do Nascimento Magalhães - the younger sister of Pelé. Yes, that Pelé.
The world football legend was Davi Remagen’s great-uncle.
“I used to see him every time I went to Brazil which was about once a year. To me it was never like I was spending time with Pelé the soccer player. I just liked spending time with “Tio Dico” (“Uncle Dico” - ‘Dico’ being Pelé’s original nickname) because he was fun to be around and I always had something to laugh about.”
Pelé also gave a young Davi some sports lessons.
“He always said that the most important things in sports are discipline and believing. You always have to believe in yourself and in your ability and keep working on your craft.”
After seeing what Davi Remagen has done while he has been healthy, I think the basketball world should be hoping the young RheinStars Köln guard avoids any further injuries, which has already robbed him - and all of us - of his great play.
A shoot-out for the ages
Speaking of great play, we saw two big-time scoring playmakers go at it in style with Mathieu Grujicic of Barcelona and Zalgiris’ Dovydas Buika in the first place game. The showdown was tight for about 25 minutes before Barcelona started to pull away and opened a 14 point lead - 77-63 - with 6 minutes to play.
Buika was on his game all day in collecting 26 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists for a PIR of 30. Grujicic meanwhile really stepped up his game in the second half. He scored 18 of his 22 points after the break and made 3 three-pointers to go along with 9/13 free throws - including 3/4 in the final 8 seconds. He chipped in 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 8 fouls received. And Barcelona grabbed the 91-89 win and booked a ticket to the NextGen Finals at the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four in Abu Dhabi from May 23-25.
“We came here to win this thing, not just to participate. And in the end, we did it. We knew it wasn't going to be an easy game, there aren’t any easy games, Every game is difficult. But we stuck to our game plan,” Grujicic said.
He also praised the Zalgiris leader whom he battled all game: “Buik had a great game. He’s my guy. He played amazing today and the whole tournament. They are a tough team to beat, but we did our job and now we are finished.”
Grujicic also showed his love of his teammates, in the post-game interview making sure he point out Pol Pena being with the team even though the guard has been out since early December
“Shout out to Pol Pena. He came here, he’s not even playing. He’s been injured for two months. He traveled with us and is at the same hotel. He’s been helping us and supporting us from the bench. I can’t wait for Abu Dhabi.”
Grujicic and Barcelona can look ahead to Barcelona while the rest of the NextGen EuroLeague faithful can slowly shift their focus to Belgrade where the final stop of the qualifying tour will be played March 7-9.
There we get the next chance to make some lasting Adidas NextGen EuroLeague memories.
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