Dwight Powell hadn’t even made it to Istanbul before Fenerbahçe fans and the European basketball media started speculating about his European debut.
He arrived earlier this week and even before his first game Thursday night, he received league-wide attention and garnered a lot of excitement among Fenerbahçe fans.
But it was back in Dallas that the seed to his Fenerbahçe move was planted. After spending his entire 12-year NBA career in Dallas, playing next to major European superstars like Dirk Nowitzki
and Luka Doncic, Powell was curious about Europe, he said. And Tarik Biberovic helped him in choosing Fenerbahçe.
“Tarik was the one that pushed this the most. I called him first. He’s the man, it was great getting to know him even in the short window that we had. So we became good friends during the time we were teammates and I reached out to him right away, and he said ‘you’re gonna love it’. ‘You’re gonna love the system, you’re gonna love the city’.”
Dwight Powell already sees some of the differences in Europe versus playing in the NBA, and the Stanford graduate said he needs to do some studying of the more extensive schemes of Fenerbahçe.
“The intensity throughout especially the first few minutes of the game. It’s a shorter game so naturally there’s a little more intensity, more contact. Little more physicality. Some of our sets and schemes are things that I’ve seen, but we add maybe some wrinkles that are kind of unique,” he said and highlighted the atmosphere as something that really stood out:
“He (Tarik) told me I was gonna love it. He tried to tell me about the fans, but now that I’ve experienced it, there’s really not much you can say to explain how intense the fans are and how much they are dedicated to the team. So it was really fun to play in this environment,” Powell said after the game.
In his first game in Turkey, a EuroLeague game against Spanish Baskonia, which Fener won comfortably 84-65, Dwight Powell made a solid showing. Still jet lagged, only a few practices in, he had seven rebounds, three points, two assists and one block in 13 minutes.
Powell’s warm welcome in Istanbul was not just limited to fans. Also the Turkish club and staff impressed the former Mavericks center.
“It’s been great. This is a beautiful facility, obviously a storied franchise and a lot of history in this building, which is, you know, you can feel it in the floor, which is cool,” Powell said.
“But the staff has been great, coaches have been great, all the support staff have been great, very welcoming. They do things the right way here, which is part of the reason why I was excited to come. So everybody’s very good in their role and supporting us to be as good as we can. And so far it’s been great.”
But the Dallas fixture of 12 years is not about to forget about his NBA home.
“Honestly, I love the game of basketball, and I really enjoyed my time in Dallas,” Powell said.
“I’m very proud of the time that I had in Dallas. There were a lot of great accomplishments; I battled through a lot of difficult times and got to see the other side of those as well.”
Powell made it through multiple injuries, among others a ruptured right achilles tendon in 2020 that kept him out for 11 months.
“In that 12-year span, there was a lot of evolution, a lot of change, and I enjoyed every minute of it. But as I said, I love the game of basketball, so I was definitely not ready to stop playing. And I’ve always, in the back of my mind, been curious about the EuroLeague,” he said.
The Dallas Mavericks have been one of the NBA franchises with the most international and European players through the years, and that is something that influenced the veteran center.
“Many of my teammates over the years, both on the national team and in Dallas, have played over here, and they’ve all had different experiences and shared their stories, and I’ve always been curious,” he said.
“And when this opportunity came to the table, it was a chance to, you know, answer some of the questions that I had. And I think this was the perfect situation to come and explore those things.”
“For sure,” he said when asked about if he watched EuroLeague games with Luka in Dallas.
“Talked about the games. We had a bunch of guys over the years, many guys that had come over, many guys that were just fans of the game in general and would watch EuroLeague.”
The international Mavs have been a thing for decades, as German Dirk Nowitzki led the way for Europeans in the NBA, starting in Dallas in 1998.
After Dwight Powell’s first EuroLeague game, Fenerbahçe head coach, Sarunas Jasikevicius, shared his thoughts on the 6’10 center.
“Dwight Powell was good, even very good,” Jasikevicius said. “He did exactly what he has done throughout his career. His engine is incredible, and thanks to him, we got many second-chance points.”
In an environment and culture where coaches historically have been known to be much more direct with their players, Powell received a fantastic first review.
“He contributed to rebounds with his physicality under the basket. We’ll see… Of course, we need to give him some time. He’s only been able to have two practices with the team, so we need to be patient,” the coach added.
The Fener fanbase, however, has seen enough. The need for a legitimate big in Istanbul has made the excitement for Powell even bigger. Just watch this hype video:
Dwight Powell’s European career is certainly starting on a good note.
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