There was no agreement, once again, between the Union of Greek Professional Basketball Clubs (ESAKE) and the Union of Professional Greek Basketball Players (PSAK) and it seems the Greek A1 League will be suspended indefinitely as of January 1st, 2010.
Most of the Greek clubs have fiercely positioned against the Players' Union demands and threats of a strike and have even made public statements. Kolossos, Aris and Trikala didn't even bother to attend the meeting of the clubs where they discussed how the demands of the players would be handled.
One of the demands of Greek players is to reduce the number of eligible non-Europeans to a maximum two from the maximum three which is currently the limit. Olympiacos who was one of the main clubs to push for the increase of non-European (namely Americans) players this summer has made a public announcement weeks ago accusing the players of damaging the Greek basketball and in the meanwhile they released Von Wafer and are now playing with two Americans.
Other clubs like Panellinios are threatening players with fascist measures such as releasing them in case they go on a strike. Trikala which didn't even bother to meet even the rest of the clubs don't even pay their players, like Tsintsandze, whose agent told TalkBasket that it was the only reason his client left the club and signed with Donetsk.
And all this in a very crucial year for the Greek basketball as both Olympiacos and Panathinaikos aim high in Euroleague, the Greek National Team must be 100% ready for the 2010 World Championship in Turkey and even clubs like Aris and Panellinios have high hopes in Eurocup.
The final decision by the players will be made on Deceber 27th, after their president Lazaros Papadopoulos meets with the Greek Secretary of Sports.
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