Sweden’s all-time basketball player Jonas Jerebko, 36, raised eyebrows more than a year ago when he moved to Russia’s CSKA Moscow after the start of the war in Ukraine.
Sweden’s first NBA player Jonas Jerebko36, became an unwanted person after signing a playing contract with Russian powerhouse CSKA Moscow in the spring of 2022.
Jerebko, who played 635 games in the basketball NBA between 2009 and 2019, opened his verbal coffin only now, after more than a year of silence, to the Swedish news agency TT.
Jerebko is remorseful. He admitted that moving to Russia was a mistake.
– I want to apologize to the Swedes. It went wrong, but I can’t blame anyone but myself, the basketball star said on SVT’s website.
The treaty signed with Moscow in March 2022 caused a big uproar in Sweden, when at the same time Russia had attacked Ukraine. Jerebko instantly became persona non grata in the basketball community and was kicked out of the national team.
“Wrong choice, I was only thinking about basketball”
The basketball star of his country decided to be completely silent amid the criticism, and did not comment on the matter in any way.
– I made a completely wrong choice and only thought about basketball. That decision turned out to be wrong. I have borne the consequences.
Jerebko says that he still wanted to return to the NBA back then and felt that a transfer to the high-class CSKA was his only chance.
– Right from the beginning, when I had signed the contract (to Moscow), I had my own doubts. But I hadn’t played in a year and a half and I just wanted to play basketball. Now I realize how wrong that was. I would never have made a deal with such hindsight. Of course I regret it, says Jerebko.
Jonas Jerebko has not played basketball since his three-month contract with CSKA expired in June 2022.
Now it seems that the man’s basketball career is completely over. Jerebko played for the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals in the 2018-19 season. However, he did not become a champion, as the Toronto Raptors won the final series 4–2.
– I’ve kept myself in shape in case I still play, although it doesn’t look like it at the moment. I want to play at the highest level, and the chances of that are not great.
The 208-centimeter Jerebko admits that he hasn’t even thought much about basketball lately.
– I always wanted to end my career in the Swedish national team, but now it just happened like this.