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Elijah Bryant back-to-back champ: NBA Finals to EuroLeague
Elijah Bryant made history this past year by winning a NBA championship and a EuroLeague championship. (Credit: Michael McLoone-USA TODAY Sports)

Elijah Bryant back-to-back champ: NBA Finals to EuroLeague

ISTANBUL (BVM) – It only took Elijah Bryant 306 days to make basketball history by becoming only the second player ever to win an NBA championship and a EuroLeague championship in back-to-back seasons. The 27-year-old guard joins Jim Brewer, who was the first to accomplish the feat in 1982 and 1983 when he won with the Los Angeles Lakers and Ford Cantu.

Bryant accomplished this by being a part of the Milwaukee Bucks team that won the 2020-21 NBA Finals. He then signed a contract with reigning EuroLeague champions Anadolu Efes and helped the Turkish club win back-to-back EuroLeague titles, beating Real Madrid 58-57.

“They’re two both monumental moments in my career, but for me personally on a personal basis, I would say the EuroLeague one because I had more of a role,” Bryant said about which championship celebration was his favorite. “I felt like I deserved it and with the Milwaukee one, I wouldn’t say I didn’t feel like I didn’t deserve it, I would say that I felt like I didn’t contribute in those games.”

Bryant also joins a list of 10 players to win both titles during their career. That list includes players like Manu Ginobli and Toni Kukoc. It’s quite the start to a professional career that began just four years ago.

“I think this summer when I have some time to really spend with my family it will really sink in what I have accomplished and then I’ll be able to reset and get locked in for next year,” Bryant said.

It truly has been a whirlwind. In 2018, Bryant left BYU to declare for the NBA Draft, he went undrafted and ended up playing for the Israeli pro basketball team, Hapoel Eilat. The 6-foot-5 guard was then traded to Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Entering the 2020-2021 season, Bryant was in talks with the Bucks but he wanted a regular contract rather than a two-way deal with Milwaukee. Bryant felt like a regular contract would give him the opportunity to be his best, so talks continued throughout the season. The deal finally happened on May 16 2021, Maccabi allowed Bryant to leave and he was on his way to Milwaukee.

“I feel like I’m forever indebted to them because they allowed me to go fulfill a dream,” Bryant said about Maccabi allowing him to leave for the NBA.

“Once they allowed me to go, I pretty much packed up, took a Covid test on the way to Milwaukee and then stayed in a hotel and in the gym,” Bryant said. “Basketball is basketball but you’re still kind of star struck a little bit because you see these guys on TV but once you get to playing, it’s all the same game.”

Bryant joined the Bucks at the tail end of the regular season and then was a part of their playoff run to the championship. He averaged 4.5 minutes, 1.3 points and 1.1 rebounds on 50% 3-point shooting for Milwaukee. He fulfilled a lifelong dream and then doubled down by being a part of a championship run.

“The NBA one meant a lot because just to play in the NBA is very rare but to win an NBA championship is extremely rare,” Bryant said.

After the confetti had dropped and the parade was over, Bryant began the preparation for the 2022 season. The Bucks waived him in September and Bryant received offers from multiple EuroLeague clubs, but the one that stood out was from Efes.

“Once this option became available it was kind of something I didn’t want to turn down,” Bryant said.

Efes had been on Bryant’s radar since he played against them while on Maccabi. Even though both were respectable EuroLeague powerhouses, the way Efes was able to come into Tel Aviv and beat Maccabi resonated with Bryant.

“What really stuck with me is I remember when I played them when I was at Maccabi… I think it was our worst loss ever,” Bryant said.

Bryant was joining the reigning EuroLeague champs and took note of the similarities between the championship mentality he saw with Milwaukee and Efes. They were two teams who were contenders and acted like it.

“I think you see a bunch of routines,” Bryant said. “A lot of guys have routines which allow you to really not focus on the outside noise. That’s something that I’ve incorporated in what I do. The guys at the highest level, its routines, routines, routines because there’s so much outside distraction that if you don’t have a routine there’s extra media, extra this, extra that and you can fall into that trap of believing the hype.”

For Bryant, it fed into his personal motto of the ‘one cent club.’ The mentality of everyday coming into the gym, putting a penny in the jar and putting the work in. Never checking the jar to see how much you have put in but knowing that there will be a time when all those pennies, all those days of hard work will pay off.

Along with that comes a focus on the work rather than the outcomes. Never getting too high or too low based on one game or even a series of games. Instead stick to the routine, use it to collect data and adjust based on that.

“Focusing on being task oriented and not result driven like, ‘Oh I had a good game so I don’t need to get my shots up after,’” Bryant said. “It’s more so, ‘This is my routine and this is what I do good or bad.’”

The mentality paid off for Bryant this year as he overcame some early season hurdles and found a role on Efes as a contributor off the bench. He averaged almost 20 minutes a game with 5.3 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists during the regular season. In the postseason, he scored 16 points and six rebounds in the Euroleague semifinal against Olympiacos. In the final, Bryant had a team-high eight rebounds and an assist.

Four years in and Bryant has accomplished more than he probably could have ever imagined as a kid driving two hours to Atlanta with his mom and brothers to play basketball. It’s a testament to his work ethic, the sacrifices he and his family have made and the chip that has always been on his shoulder.

Bryant wasn’t a highly-recruited kid out of high school. There were plenty who said he shouldn’t have left BYU when he did.

“No one believed I could make it,” Bryant said.

The penny jar continued to fill up and even though it has already been paying off, Bryant doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He has goals he wants to accomplish and dreams to fulfill.

“I want to get back to the NBA. I want to do something in the NBA. I want to be a first team All-EuroLeague player so there’s a lot of goals on my list. These are great accomplishments that I’ve had but now it’s onto the next.”

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