The Crossover with Joe Arlauckas

Joe Arlauckas’ next guest on The Crossover is Olympiacos Head Coach Georgios Bartzokas! He explains how tough it was to overcome the knee injuries he suffered as a player, and how that led to him becoming a coach at young age, even whilst he was still playing. Bartzokas describes how he learnt his trade at clubs like Maroussi and Olympia Larissa, before he experienced one of the happiest moments o...

Partizan Belgrade’s Kevin Punter joins Joe Arlauckas on the latest episode of The Crossover! He describes what it was like growing up in the Bronx, and when he decided it was best to make a move to Europe to further his basketball career. Punter details what it’s like adapting to different clubs, and how incredible it was to win consecutive Champions League titles with AEK Athens and Virtus Bologn...

Guerschon Yabusele drops by The Crossover to have a chat with Joe Arlauckas! He details his passion for boxing as a youngster and how he still does training drills regularly to help him out on the basketball court. Guerschon explains that whilst it was a big thrill to be selected so high up in the NBA draft in 2016, his time America was tricky at times, and didn’t quite work out how he thought. He...

Joe Arlauckas chats to Olimpia Milano's Nicolo Melli on the latest episode of The Crossover! He explains how an initial passion for beach volleyball as a child transformed into basketball, and how he grew stronger mentally during an injury ravaged three years at his first club Reggiana from the age of 16. Nicolo looks back on his years in Bamberg and in the NBA and talks about what drew him back t...

UNICS Kazan’s Mario Hezonja joins Joe Arlauckas on the latest episode of The Crossover! He explains how Basketball became his passion during a childhood filled with playing sport in his hometown of Dubrovnik, Croatia. Mario details his life changing move to Barcelona as a teenager and the adjustment it took, before his five-year stint in the NBA. Mario explains why the opportunity to return to Eur...

The Crossover with Joe Arlauckas returns for the 2021-22 season with one of the best minds in basketball! Dimitris Itoudis is the longest tenured head coach in CSKA Moscow history, collecting two EuroLeague titles so far in Russia. Joe hears how Dimitris left his humble beginnings in Greece to find his big break in basketball coaching in Zagreb. Then they chart his extraordinary partnership with Ž...

Joe Arlauckas' final guest of the season is 2020-21 EuroLeague and Final Four MVP Vasilije Micić. The Anadolu Efes guard reflects on a career defining year for him, and explains how family helped get him to this point. He gives Joe the lowdown on Efes' run to the Championship including their dramatic Semi-Final victory over CSKA. Plus, hear how he plans to celebrate with another MVP this off-seaso...

The experts are back to review the drama of the Final Four semi-finals, and preview the Championship game - FC Barcelona v Anadolu Efes. Javier Gancedo is joined by Piti Hurtado, Andrea Solaini, Sergey Tarakanov and Begum Unal. Hear what they think might go down on Sunday!

Joe Arlauckas is back in the hotseat to look back on two incredible Semi-Finals and look ahead to Sunday's Championship game between FC Barcelona and Anadolu Efes. Helping him out are EuroLeague legend David Rivers, former Efes Guard Sinan Guler and Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Ioannis Sfairopoulos. Plus, Joe takes us into the finalists camps, as he speaks to Barça's Álex Abrines and Krunoslav Simo...

EuroLeague's Javier Gancedo takes the mic to preview the Final Four Semi-Final matchups. Joining him are Piti Hurtado, Andrea Solaini, Sergey Tarakanov and Begum Unal as they cast their eye over CSKA v Anadolu Efes and AX Armani Exchange Milan v FC Barcelona. Hear who they think the difference makers will be as they break down each team's year. Plus, get inside each camp as we hear from CSKA's Tok...

Barcelona center Brandon Davies joins Joe Arlauckas for the latest instalment of The Crossover. They chart Brandon’s remarkable early life in Utah, where basketball wasn’t always in the picture. Davies opens up about his time at BYU and his stint in the NBA, then how he was convinced to join Žalgiris in 2017. He looks back on his first Final Four appearance that same year, then his ascension to on...

On the latest edition of The Crossover, Joe Arlauckas talks to one of EuroLeague's greatest big men of all time, Sofoklis Schortsanitis. Sofo talks about the beginnings of his pro career in Greece when he was still just a teenager. They reflect on his moves from Olympiacos to Maccabi Tel Aviv, then Panathanaikos and back to Maccabi Tel Aviv where he clinched the only EuroLeague title of his career...

It's Part 2 of a special edition of The Crossover as Fenerbaçhe's General Manager Maurizio Gherardini, AX Armani Exchange Milano's Christos Stavropoulos and Paulius Motiejunas of Žalgiris Kaunas discuss management with Joe Arlauckas. There's talk of how you replace legendary coaches, managing players coming to the end of their careers and reflections on running a team in pandemic times. Finally, t...

In a special edition of The Crossover, Joe Arlauckas sits down with three of the best minds in basketball management - Fenerbaçhe's General Manager Maurizio Gherardini, AX Armani Exchange Milano's Christos Stavropoulos and Paulius Motiejunas of Žalgiris Kaunas. In this fascinating discussion, the three divulge their paths to the business side of basketball, project building at their clubs and the...

Joe Arlauckus welcomes Norris Cole to The Crossover. The ASVEL Point Guard always seemed destined for a great career, but it wasn’t always clear it would be basketball, especially growing up in a family that emphasised academics. An excellent student and athlete, Cole eventually found his path through Cleveland State University to the Miami Heat and two NBA Championship rings. He discusses his tim...

Zenit St Petersburg guard Kevin Pangos is Joe Arlauckas’ next guest on The Crossover. Growing up in Canada idolising Steve Nash, even copying his relentless practice habits, Pangos ventured south of the border to enjoy a successful college career at Gonzaga. After graduation, the 28 year old jetted across the Atlantic, first to Gran Canaria before joining Zalgiris Kaunas in 2016. Kevin reflects on...

This week on The Crossover, Joe Arlauckus welcomes Fenerbahçe head coach, Igor Kokoškov. While the Serbian is one of the most experienced European coaches in the game, he is a relative newcomer to the EuroLeague. Igor charts his remarkable journey from a devastating accident that ended his playing career, to becoming the first European head coach in the NBA, and now to Turkey. Kokoškov discusses r...

This week, Joe Arlauckas is joined on The Crossover by Olympiacos’ Kostas Papanikolaou. Long identified as a big talent, Kostas has developed into one of the most consistent players in the EuroLeague. But as Joe finds out, it took a while for him to even find basketball. From there, the pair look at Papanikolaou's first stint with Olympiacos, reflecting on a career defining performance in one of E...

In the latest episode of The Crossover, Joe Arlauckus gets to know one of the EuroLeague’s top head coaches, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Ioannis Sfairopoulos. A player turned coach since the age of 21, the Greek worked his way up - from his hometown of Thessaloniki, via assistant jobs with PAOK and CSKA Moscow, to four successful seasons as Head Coach of Olympiacos. Sfairopoulos headed to Tel Aviv in 2018...

Joe Arlauckas welcomes CSKA Moscow Assistant Coach Darryl Middleton to the first episode of The Crossover in 2021. They chart Darryl’s journey from playing Basketball in the parks of New York to Europe, and a staggering 25 year professional playing career. The duo reminisce about their head-to-head battles on the court back in the day, where Joe even gets called out for welching on a bet! Darryl e...

In episode 2 of the new series, Joe Arlauckas is joined by MVP for October, Zalgiris Kaunas superstar Marius Grigonis.  They chat about Marius moving to Spain as a young player to learn the game and the hardship of being away from his friends and family.  Joe and Marius take you through his journey back home and the big time of EuroLeague at his home club Zalgiris Kaunas.  Marius talks about winni...

Series three of The Crossover is back!  Joe Arlauckas is back too and his first guest of the new series is the current FC Bayern Munich head coach Andrea Trinchieri.  The passionate Italian tells his story and how his journey into coaching began – from disappointing his parents for not going to Harvard, to taking his first job as head coach in the third tier of Italian basketball, before finally a...

Mike Batiste joins Joe Arlauckas to continue his remarkable story of life at Panathinaikos. The LA born star compares his first EuroLeague title win to falling in love, explains how the Greeks treated him like a rock star and why he isn’t closing the door on a coaching future at Panathinaikos. Plus he reveals why he would never break a Željko Obradović curfew!

From Long Beach to the EuroLeague. In the first of a two-part special, Orlando Magic Asst. Coach Mike Batiste tells us his incredible story of how he survived Californian gang culture to become a multiple EuroLeague Champion with Panathinaikos. He reveals how basketball changed his life, which coach he thinks is the greatest of all time, and why the Greek derby was so special!  

In one of Joe’s special interviews to mark the 20th Anniversary of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, Luigi ‘Gigi’ Datome is the latest to join The Crossover as they delve deep into the charismatic Italian’s fabulous career.  They discuss his return to Europe from the NBA as he was ‘starving’ for basketball and playing in front of the big stage once again.  Joe and ‘Gigi’ talk about Fenerbahce’s Eur...