Chris Singleton recalls fake news about him and Vesely, suggests profitable EuroLeague ideas / News - Basketnews.com

In the final part of his interview with BasketNews, Chris Singleton reflects on how the EuroLeague can grow financially, remembers the most outrageous rumor about himself and Wizards teammate Jan Vesely, and reveals the timeline to his retirement.

Credit: David Grau/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images Credit David Grau/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

Last summer,Chris Singletontook six months off basketball to take care of business - in the most literal sense of the phrase.

Jan Vesely

MIN:20.09PTS:8.52 (63.13%)REB:3.81As:1.48ST:0.81BL:0.22TO:1.07GM:27ProfileEuroLeague2022/2023

In 2021, the forward ofAnadolu Efes Istanbullaunched Live Offbeat, a public relations and marketing firm. It deals with brand creation and management, event planning, multi-media production, and management of public-facing events through broadcast media, print media, web content, graphic art, blogging, and podcasting on targeted platforms.

With Live Offbeat Media, Singleton wants to showcase the different interests and talents of athletes or other personalities and then develop them into a business.

"We are in the era of social media and cancel culture," the veteran forward thinks.

"One portion of a clip, a short video, or a sound bite can kill a career without knowing the context of why it happened. The media has played a big portion in shaping everyone's lives and outlooks."

It's a project that can apply to basketball players, especially those working in Europe.

"I help produce content according to the narrative the client wants to push - not what everyone else is trying to gravitate towards. Right now, content is king. You write the narrative. Social media helps you tell your story the way you want to," Singleton, 33, notes.

According to the EuroLeague veteran, his business company can help anybody possessing a (smart) phone and a camera.

"A lot of people want to hear your story or where you come from. It's about how you want to dissect it and put in some videos and segments because that's what people gravitate towards. And then, you can add music to capture the main audience," he suggests.

Singleton says everything you do can go viral, draw attention and make you famous. He grew his Live Offbeat platform over the past couple of years with the help of some partners who were willing to fund him and back him up.

Thus, he developed a content house in Georgia to build up content. So far, he's received support from the sports community at large.

"I've been embraced by athletes all over the spectrum - soccer, American football, tennis, volleyball. I want to help players protect their money and figure out what they're going to do after sports. I'm trying to help athletes build startups and small businesses."

But that's not all. Drawing from his experience, Singleton wants to make sure his clients take control of their image. That's the safest way to preserve the truthfulness of the stories about them.

"I personally have been a part of fake narratives, and the media just took it and ran with it," Singleton has said.

To this day, he still recalls the most outrageous narrative he's heard about himself. It wasn't during his time in Europe that started in 2015 with Lokomotiv Kuban, but while he was playing with the Washington Wizards (2011-14).

After leaving Florida State as the only Seminole in school history to rank amongst the top 10 in career blocks and steals, Singleton became the Wizards' second first-round pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.

Who was picked before him? Jan Vesely, who was the sixth overall pick and the franchise's big hope for the future.

However, the Czech big man averaged 4.7 points and 4.4 rebounds over 18.9 minutes in his rookie season and then saw his playing getting decreased to 11.8 minutes in the 2012-13 campaign.

He was traded to the Nuggets in February 2014, a few months before returning to EuroLeague to join Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul.

Singleton, the 18th pick in the same draft, had an option worth over $2.4 million. Instead, both became unrestricted free agents at the end of the 2013-14 season.

The plan for the Wizards back then was for Vesely and Singleton to feed off each other.

Singleton was regarded as an NBA-ready forward, as he was slated to guard the opponents' best offensive player. If the Wizards were able to create turnovers, led by Singleton, the team would get out on the fast break more and score in transition.

In this context, the organization considered Vesely an ideal fast-break complement for speedy point guard John Wall.

"Jan and Chris and both versatile forwards who are very competitive and play with a lot of energy at all times, particularly on defense," general manager Ernie Grunfeld said.

In hindsight, everything went wrong for both players and the franchise. Now, most people remember all the players the Wizards missed out on in the 2011 NBA Draft.

Everyone knows they took Jan Vesely over Kawhi Leonard, Chris Singleton over Jimmy Butler, and Shelvin Mack over Chandler Parsons.

Eventually, all of their three picks came to Europe - Vesely in 2014, Singleton one year later, and Mack in 2019.

Credit Rich Sugg/Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

"When I was with the Wizards, there was this narrative that I didn't do anything, and I was lazy," Singleton recalls.

"You can ask Jan Vesely about it; it was the total opposite. At the time, we were the only two in the gym, trying to get better. That was literally every day. We both lived in the same building. We were super close. Before and after practice, we would be the only ones to practice."

The two-time EuroLeague champion says the organization had the videotapes to prove his claim, but "they wanted to make their own stories."

"That's why me and Vesely bonded so well," he explains.

"I saw the fake stories about him. When you don't understand somebody or something, you just push it off. You say little stuff and try to downgrade somebody. I don't think, at the time, they understood Vesely and his game, especially with the Wizards."

Singleton adds that the media was willing to push thatnarrative about the two players not spending enough time to work on their game.

"People were talking behind the scenes about things they didn't know. So, they were making stuff up. I never ran from it. You see the truth behind things," he points out.

Credit Panagiotis Moschandreou/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

Singleton says on social media, it's 'fake it until you make it.'

"You see a lot of people making up false scenarios. They get a trend and a following, and all of a sudden, things come out, and people realize they'd faked it," he argues.

There's a recent example that's particularly illustrating. Victor Wembanyama made an Instagram post where he denied having ever given an interview to FIBA, and shortly after, the world federation fired the reporter who had provided the content.

The details of the incident haven't been made public, and hence, no one can be sure whether the interview took place, but that became one of those rare cases where a story or narrative was essentially stopped by the very person involved in it.

Credit Instagram/wemby

Singleton believes that since certain people or organizations have a following, it's the audience's duty to hold them to a standard.

"A lot of stuff on social media is clickbait. That has happened in sports also. People are trying to make a name for themselves," he adds.

Singleton mentions another case where media credibility is in question. ESPN reports about Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson trying to get the biggest contract in the history of American football.

"But ESPN has 15-20 different reporters saying 'source'. Who's your source?" Singleton asks.

"The thing is, Jackson is his own agent. So, he's making all the deals. All those different reporters are saying different numbers. You watch this, and you see how people are trying to make a name.

Kevin Durant has come out, and he's been the biggest voice for writing your own story. With technology, you can make fake receipts, news, or conversations. It's crazy. With all that lying and faking, it's tough to be credible."

Nowadays, most players have their own social media platforms and are perfectly capable - like Wembanyama did - to confirm, reproduce, or refute any content that comes their way. But Singleton thinks that in most cases, athletes hardly keep track of everything that's written or said about them.

"All they want to do after a game is go back to their families and don't talk about that. Everyone's been in a situation where they thought, 'Maybe this is a slight fabrication,'" he says.

From a business perspective, Chris Singleton seems to have a clear view of how European basketball can make money and clubs can become profitable. His one-year (2018-19) stint at one of the world's biggest sports brand names helped him a lot.

"When I was at Barca, it kind of opened my eyes to everything. The ACB has a players' association which is probably the strongest in Europe. I've always saved money, and I have mentors and peers that have way more than me."

According to Singleton, the keywords are merchandise sales and a unified television rights model.

"It's marketing and media," he stresses.

"I saw it first-hand in the NBA. With EuroLeague, it's hard to make money when you can't sell jerseys like the NBA has done with Nike.

You can't do that over here. And then, you're not collectively bargaining for one TV deal or one huge sponsor that's going to be everywhere.

I think there's money out there to be made, and we're just missing out. Right now, the EuroLeague is a glorified billionaires' club playground.

Credit EuroLeague

Who's making money? One or two are probably coming close to even. And guess what - all these owners are basketball fanatics. They're putting money in for fun. They don't have to do this. That's why half of them are out after some time. They're fighting for bragging rights. It's up to them."

Will American players still be willing to come to Europe if the money drops? Singleton admits he has no answer for that.

"I don't know. Especially for being an American, I just don't know. It's something to talk about with the EuroLeague, and hopefully, they have a plan to make some money. Because if they lose only one million instead of five or ten every year, maybe they'll put more money into it."

If Singleton was in charge of the EuroLeague, the first thing he would do is try toget the jersey rights of everybody.

"I know it's hard because you have Barca, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich, who are all on the football side. I'd make a proposal for them to make it a different organization for basketball, a subsidiary of the football team - and slightly change their name to something I could get the jersey rights for everybody," he suggests.

"That's going to bring us money. Maybe we can go get 150-200 million for jersey rights over the first couple of years. Then, we go to one network that's all over Europe. That would be my plan. You can't drop those three teams at this stage, but [Marshall] Glickman seems like he knows what he's doing. So, hopefully, he has a plan."

In March 2020, when the covid-19 pandemic broke out, and all sports competitions stopped, Singleton suggested that the EuroLeague use the NCAA March Madness as their one-time model, which would include two bubbles.

Interestingly, Marshall Glickman has said that the EuroLeague's expansion and the creation of conferences are inevitable.

"It's only inevitable if these owners want it to be," Singleton demurs.

"There's always money out there. Asia and the Middle East are starting to get hungry for more and more sports. I know they want to expand out there.

And then, we go back to big markets like London and Paris. People want to see basketball. You have the big Greek, and Turkish teams that will go there, and fans would want to see them play.

But going to the Middle East that's where the EuroLeague's going to grow. They have unlimited resources and money."

On the other hand, Singleton hasn't got unlimited time ahead of him as a basketball player.

"I think I've got one or two more years," he concedes.

"I'm going to hang it up after that. Originally, it was supposed to be 2023-24, but we had the COVID year. And this year, I stayed at home for a while. Now, I think I can last until 2025," he says.

Singleton entered the EuroLeague in 2015, two months prior to his 26th birthday, and by the time he retires, he will have turned 35. The Georgia-born forward has come to terms with the fact that he's getting close to retirement, but so are some of his peers.

"It will be interesting to see how things will go and what will happen when my group goes away," he says.

"[Cory] Higgins has been here for a while, [Kyle] Hines as well. We can go after [Shane] Larkin, [Will] Clyburn, [Nick] Calathes, [Mike] James. Everybody who's around 32-34 has got 2-3 more years.

So, I think the fans got to embrace it while it lasts."

Check out the previous parts of the interview with Singleton:

Chris Singleton explains Ataman's tricks, reveals background of his Barcelona days Chris Singleton on turning down Fenerbahce, Panathinaikos' rebuild and Olympiacos' future Thank you for being with us! Subscribe to BN+ and browse ad-free.