John Stockton's son and his American teammate Archie Goodwin left Ukrainian basketball team before invasion
The impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has impacted European sports, including basketball.
Michael Stockton -- the son of NBA Hall of Famer John Stockton who was playing professional basketball in Ukraine -- was able to leave the country last week and return to his home in Spokane, Washington, his agent, Mike Main, told USA TODAY Sports.
Stockton, 32, played for Budivelnyk Kyiv in Ukraine’s SuperLeague and averaged 10.2 points, a team-high 6.2 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals. This was his first season with Budivelnyk, which is in second place.
Stockton’s teammate, Archie Goodwin, the No. 29 pick in the 2013 NBA draft, left Ukraine days ago and signed a deal to play in Israel, his agent, Eric Fleisher, told USA TODAY Sports.
“The team kept saying, ‘Everything is fine, everything is going to be OK,’ ” Fleisher said. “Having been through similar situations in Ukraine and Israel in the past when there was a conflict, there is a timeliness and build-up, and it was clear to me it was time to leave. The more knowledge you have, the easier it is to sift through what’s real and not real. I said to Archie, ‘It’s time to leave.’ ”
Fleisher said he believes a few American-born players remain in Ukraine. There are approximately 60 America men on Ukrainian rosters, according to basketball.realgm.com.
Prometey, the first-place team based in Kamianske, Ukraine, relocated its men’s and women’s teams to Prague, Czech Republic.
Taylor Jones, who played for a Ukrainian professional women's team, left the country last week and made it to Finland. "Let's just say I've been able to sleep a little better," Jones told Detroit TV station WXYZ.
As recently as last week, Maine's Troy Barnies, who played for MBC Mykolaiv, planned to stay. But on Sunday he flew to Norway with his wife. He told TV station WMTW that friends were describing long lines at gas stations and ATMs.
"So there's a lot of panic, more now than a few days ago, and the situation was insane," he said.
Several Americans also play for Russian teams.
Russian invasion impact on sports
Last week, a FIBA World Cup qualifying between game Spain and Ukraine in Kyiv was postponed amid security concerns, and on Thursday, a FIBA World Cup qualifying game between England and Belarus was also postponed. “The decision is based on the evaluation of the current security situation in the region,” FIBA said in a statement.
Also, Spanish powerhouse FC Barcelona, the top team in the 18-team Euroleague, canceled a trip to Russia on Thursday, where it was scheduled to play games in St. Petersburg on Friday and Moscow on Sunday. Other games involving Russian teams were also postponed.
The Euroleague released a statement saying games will be played “unless the integrity of all participating teams is at risk and/or there are governmental decisions that prevent any games from taking place under normal circumstances.”
Estonia’s BC Kalev/Cramo, a team in the Russian-dominated VTB United League, released a statement saying, “Due to Russian aggression that led to war in Ukraine, BC Kalev/Cramo will terminate their membership with VTB United League as we do not see a possibility to continue after the moves made by Russia. Our team is against every sort of violence and war activity.”
The statement ended with #standwithukraine.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ukraine basketball: John Stockton's son and Archie Goodwin flee
