MADRID, 9 Apr. (SportsFinding) –
The Real Madrid basketball coach, Pablo Laso, has confirmed that he has removed French point guard Thomas Heurtel and American power forward Trey Thompkins from the team and that this is his own and “final” decision, and has reiterated his full confidence in the other 13 players on the squad.
“Heurtel and Thompkins do not train with the team, it is a technical decision. I have full confidence in the rest, I have enough that the rest play at their best level. What worries me is that we are the team we want to be. The team is always above people,” he declared at a press conference. “My obligation as a coach is to identify the problem,” he said forcefully.
In this sense, he made it clear that neither of them will wear white again under his orders. “The thing with Heurtel and Trey is my decision. I believe that the remaining 13 players can get the best of them from here to the end of the season and we are going to be the team that we want to be,” he said. “The decision is final,” he said.
The fire comes just a few hours after falling to Bayern Munich (88-97) in the Euroleague and a few hours before facing Barça in a new Clásico. “I expect the best version of my team against Barça, we respect him a lot,” he said, assuring that he “does not” consider this to be his worst moment in charge of the Madrid team.