Luwawu-Cabarrot: 'A long time since I've been this happy to play a game' / News - Basketnews.com

Luwawu-Cabarrot admitted not remembering being this happy to play a basketball game before following his year-long absence from the French national team.

Credit: Laurent Coust/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire - Scanpix Credit Laurent Coust/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire - Scanpix

Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot returned to the French national team during the EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers window this February following a year-long absence. The forward was delighted.

France / Schedule

France Croatia73-61 Bosnia and Herzegovina France64-74

Luwawu-Cabarrot was excluded from the national team's rotation following a locker room incident in Bosnia and Herzegovina before EuroBasket 2022. The French player was not selected for the 2023 FIBA World Cup squad afterward.

"I recognize my mistakes in 2022, it would not be smart to do otherwise. I asked myself questions. Today, I understand why I was not selected for the World Cup," Luwawu-Cabarrot said in an interview with Yann Ohnona in December 2023.

The LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne player now feels better after having reconciled the relationship between himself and head coach Vincent Collet.

"What has changed? I have reached an age where I have a better approach to the game, I know what I can and must bring," Luwawu-Cabarrot told Ohnona after the EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers window.

"I wanted to prove to myself that I could do certain things earlier, I wanted the ball. I no longer have this urgency. Friday, I started my game on defense. Afterward, if things come my way, so much the better. It's been a long time since I've been this happy to play a match," the player admitted. "I was liberated, happy to communicate with my teammates. I wasn't there at the World Cup, but I still hope to have lots of campaigns with the Blues. I don't want to think about past episodes anymore."

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