All AEK players have boycotted the team due to unpaid salaries. Justin Tillman has singlehandedly left the country and is now in the US. AEK have 5 FIBA bans in place. Although the administration promises to pay the players on Friday, April 12th, the boycott continues.
AEK Betsson Athens are involved in yet another scandal.
After months of not getting paid, the team's players have refused to practice and have boycotted the team since the start of the week, multiple Greek media outlets report.
Demanding to get their salaries, players met with the club's owner Makis Angelopoulos on Thursday. With the club's administration insisting the players will receive at least part of their pay on Friday, April 12th, the players will continue to protest.
Justin Tillman, meanwhile, has already taken concrete action. As SDNA reports, the center has already left the team on his own initiative. Tillman is currently in the USA and doesn't intend to come back, the outlet writes. He was one of the team's leaders in the Basketball Champions League (BCL), averaging 13.3 points and 7.1 rebounds for 15 PIR.
One of the team's players, Mindaugas Kuzminskas, has openly mentioned before the season he doesn't expect to get all his money on time during the season and instead thinks he will get paid through the BAT processes.
"They were late two months in payment for me and the American players, four months for the Greek players, and seven months for the staff. And they were expecting the same, whether [we were] being paid or not," now-former head coach Joan Plaza said earlier in the season. The club has since sued him for it.
AEK have been known recently as a club that struggles financially. Last season, the Greek team had 18 FIBA Basketball Arbitral Tribunal (BAT) bans in place. This season, the club already has five, with the first one being issued on March 27th, 2024.
AEK have a game scheduled against Lavrio on Sunday, April 14th.
