Sirvydis’ flight across the Atlantic could lead to legal disputes

“Until David signed a contract with the Pistons, we could only have guessed that scenario, there was no excuse to take anything. Now we will start looking for ways to defend our position. Anything can be,” he said. DelphiJustas Jankauskas, director of Ryto, did not reject the prospects of a legal dispute.

In 2017, D. Sirvydis, who was only 16 years old for the first time wearing the Rytas jersey in official competition, became the club’s youngest debutant in the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL).

The talent capable of playing in the offensive defender and light forward positions thus surpassed Jonas Valančiūnas.

Like the latter, Sirvydis began his early career in the NBA.

Only if J. Valančiūnas ‘move to the Toronto Raptors in 2012 added nearly 7 million to Rytas’ budget. LTL (2 million euros), this time the club feels economically disadvantaged.

After intervening, Hapoel managed to win several times less than expected for the jump in the career of D. Sirvydis.

Last spring, the Israeli club took advantage of the terms of the 20-year Lithuanian contract.

The contract stipulated that European teams could buy a player for less than NBA clubs. Hapoel’s newcomer sifted 170,000. euros.

It’s true that Rytas’ previous management, which reacted slowly to events, then risked staying in the cracked gel entirely. D. Sirvydis’s agent almost seized the opportunity to unilaterally terminate the contract for a curious reason: unpaid utility bills for the player’s rented apartment.

However, Hapoel could still make money from a kind of talent resale.

After all, other events show that the club leaders needed D. Sirvydis more than coach Oded Kattash.

After the resumption of the Israeli championship suspended by the pandemic in the summer, the Lithuanian visited the square only four times. This season, Hapoel did not record him for national championship matches at all, and in the FIBA ​​D Champions League. Sirvydis played a total of 19 minutes. and scored exactly one point.

However, the young man’s brief internship paid off for the Jews financially, and how can he not remember the fact that Arn Tellem, the father of D. Sirvydis’s agent, Michael Tellem, has been the vice president of the company that runs the Pistons. and he was one of the owners of Hapoel.

It is not officially announced how much the Detroit club paid for D. Sirvydis, but the maximum ransom set by the NBA for a player belonging to a European team is 750 thousand. AMERICAN DOLLAR.

It is true that J. Jankauskas mentions a smaller amount: 400 thousand. dollars (330 thousand euros). However, this would be double what Rytas received.

The Lithuanian vice champions now intend to claim Hapoel’s share of the transfer fee charged by the NBA.

“The contract did not foresee this and FIBA ​​does not regulate this situation very clearly. However, in football, for example, it is specifically defined that the previous teams of a player receive a certain percentage of new transfers. evaluate our legal possibilities ”, commented J. Jankauskas.

Deividas Sirvydis looks good 👀 pic.twitter.com/I2NXxTuIUK

– Pistons Talk (@Pistons__Talk) November 25, 2020

The Rytas boss did not want to accuse his predecessors of negligence in formulating the terms of the contract, that there was something else and it was not possible to negotiate.

“I wouldn’t say mistakes were made, the club just didn’t get a chance to turn down Hapoel’s offer. It is also normal practice for player contracts to have different trade amounts for the NBA and European teams.

I would just like to insure myself against such a strange situation as we have in this case. Perhaps the contract should stipulate that if a basketball player changes teams for the second time in half a year or a year, his first club is entitled to a share of the new trade. Perhaps FIBA ​​itself should regulate these situations in detail as it has done in football, ”said J. Jankauskas.

According to the US media, D. Sirvydis, who has signed a three-year contract with the Pistons, will earn 900,000 in the first season. dollars (740 thousand euros).

In the second year, his salary is expected to rise to 1.24 million. 1.5 million euros in the third. It is true that the club will be able to end the cooperation after two seasons.

We remind you that at the NBA Rookie Exchange 2019, D. Sirvydis was chosen by the Dallas Mavericks Club as the 37th call-up, who immediately transferred to the Lithuanian Pistons.