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KAZAN, July 14 (R-Sport) - Lithuanian champion basketball team Zalgiris Kaunas will be denied prize money for three years if it chooses to reverse a shock decision and return to the Eastern European VTB United League, the competition's chief warned Sunday.
The top non-Russian team in the competition pulled out earlier this month citing an overcrowded schedule after already committing to the top-tier Euroleague and the domestic championship.
That has riled VTB league president Sergei Ivanov, also Russian President Vladimir Putin's chief of staff, who warned of consequences should Zalgiris ever return.
"An important decision has been taken," he said. "If a club has played in the VTB league and leaves it for any reason other than sporting reasons, and then decides to return, then it will not receive prize money for three years."
Zalgiris has been ever-present in the VTB league since its inception in 2008, but general manager Paulius Motiejunas said in a July 4 statement that the extra 18 games that it would generate next season were simply too much.
"So it’s impossible for us to participate in the VTB League. It would be no longer a basketball club, but a travel agency. It would be nonsense to play 90 matches per season," he said.
Excessive play is no issue for Russia, which is likely to abandon its domestic Professional Basketball League entirely in favor of the VTB league when the Russian Basketball Federation votes on the issue August 15.
Motiejunas claimed that made Zalgiris "hostage to this situation.”
The 2013-14 VTB champion will receive 10 million rubles ($300,000) in prize money.
