Reject the Knicks! Accept the recruitment of "European Kobe"! He directly quit the NBA

There is no doubt that for most NBA players, if they have the opportunity to play in their careers, they will basically accept it! Because the Knicks, who are in the largest city in the United States, is very attractive to almost any player, after all, playing for the Knicks means you will have more exposure. And once you are liked by Knicks fans, your career will usher in another scene. But not everyone will say to joining the New York Knicks: YES, at least Daniel Thes said to the Knicks: NO!

Although Daniel Theis refused to join the Knicks sounded unbelievable, it really happened! Maybe we find Thes rejecting the Knicks invitation a bit unreasonable, but when he meets a passionate recruitment from "European Kobe" Spanoris, the Knicks are no longer so important to him. In order to successfully play under "European Kobe" Spanoris, Thes even chose to leave the NBA directly, just asking if you agree?

And Thes rejected the Knicks has to start in February this year! At that time, the Thunder exchanged cash for Daniel Theis and a 2031 second-round pick from the Pelicans. Although it seems that the Thunder made a profit, they are actually just to help the Pelicans avoid luxury tax, because the Thunder officially announced the sacking of new aid Daniel Theis the next day. As a big insider who can average 7.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.5 breaks and 0.8 hats in his NBA career, Thes will naturally arouse the interest of other teams in the league. But what was unexpected was that Thes eventually chose to leave the NBA to join Monaco Basketball Club.

Recently, Daniel Theis revealed in an interview that he had received a offer from the New York Knicks before joining Monaco, but Monaco head coach Vasilis Spanoris played an important role in his decision. This means that it was the enthusiastic recruitment of "European Kobe" Spanoris who finally decided to leave the NBA and start a new chapter in his career!

It has to be admitted that "European Kobe" Spanoris is much more attractive to Daniel Theis than the Knicks, otherwise he would not have refused to refuse the Knicks' transfer to the Monaco basketball club coached by Spanoris. According to European basketball reporter Donatas Urbanas, Daniel Theis is expected to play for Monaco for at least one more season. From this we can see that Thes likes to be coached by Span Norris so much! In the 2024-25 season, Daniel Theis played 15 games for Monaco, averaging 11.7 points, 5.5 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game, shooting percentage of 60.3% and three-point shooting percentage of 42.3%.

Perhaps, many fans will feel unfamiliar with Span Norris! But old Rockets fans are not unfamiliar with him at all, because Span Norris joined the Rockets in 2006 with the halo of "European Kobe". Due to the lack of trust and reuse of the Rockets' coach Jeff Van Gang, Spanoris chose to return to the Greek league after spending an extremely frustrated season with the Rockets! Spanoris, who returned to the European arena, immediately returned to the killer nature of "European Kobe"!

Although Spanoris' short NBA career has not been successful, he is a god-like existence in European basketball! You should know that he is the idol of the two NBA super giants Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic today. This alone is enough to prove how high Spanoris' historical status in European basketball is. On June 26, 2021, Span Norris announced through social media that he had ended his 21-year career. In October 2023, Spanoris became the head coach of the Greek men's basketball team and officially started his coaching career. In November 2024, Spanoris officially became the head coach of the Monaco men's basketball team.