The Boston Celtics are NBA champions. Greek league team Panathinaikos are EuroLeague champions.
If Panathinaikos coach Ergin Ataman has his way, his team will welcome Celtics to Athens with the title of world champions on the line.
Ataman told Raffiné TV (via Eurohoops):
“After the Boston Celtics became NBA champions, they tweeted 'Boston, World Champions'. The Euroleague also tweeted our picture saying 'First, beat this team'. They think very highly of themselves. They want incredible numbers of spectators to play in Europe. You are not world champions. If you want to win the title of world champions, come and beat us, the Euroleague champions. If you are so confident, come and beat us at OAKA.”
The EuroLeague is essentially the Champions League of European basketball. It is Europe's premier basketball competition, with the continent's top clubs competing to be crowned champion.
Panathinaikos finished with a 23-11 record, earning the second seed in the 18-team tournament. They beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 3-2 in the best-of-five quarterfinals, before dominating Fenerbahce Beko 73-57 in the semifinals and beating top-seeded Real Madrid 95-80 in the final.
The names most familiar to NBA fans are probably former Miami Heat guard Kendrick Nunn and former Chicago Bulls forward Jerian Grant.
Ataman isn't the only sports celebrity to resent the “world champion” title: US track and field star Noah Lyles is another.
Technically, he's right: Track and field stars, for example, compete on international stages like the Olympics and World Championships, and can rightly call themselves world champions.
Sure, technically the Celtics aren't “world” champions just because they won the top basketball league in the United States, but the best players in the world have been flocking to the NBA regularly for decades, so essentially, what the NBA is doing now makes sense.
Of course, the NBA isn't the only league to do this – there's also a league (MLB) that literally names their championship the World Series.
Ultimately, Ataman and Lyles are literally scoring points when it comes to the domestic league, but for now the basketball world has its eyes on athletics' biggest international stage: the NBA's top talent representing their countries on the Olympic stage in Paris.
