Serious allegations in basketball! Erman Kunter writes: Give a house or land, get a national team jersey

Erman Kunter, one of the legendary figures of Turkish basketball, brought some of the incidents allegedly taking place in youth development programs to his column in the Cumhuriyet newspaper.

Here is what Kunter wrote in his column: “We are hearing very bad things from the youth development programs. A new trend has emerged. It involves gifts being given to certain coaches by players' parents on the condition that their children are selected for the national teams. It is being discussed that the scale of these gifts is far beyond chocolate, Turkish delight, or ties. We are receiving reports that they are at the level of watches, cars, and even land and houses.

Of course, these are rumors, but I have to make this warning. As the saying goes, 'There is no smoke without fire.' Especially when rumors about directing young people to manager agencies close to them have become so widespread, one cannot remain silent. There are those who give private lessons (in exchange for money) to their own team players. Players who take these lessons are reportedly getting more playing time. These practices are said to cover both girls' and boys' basketball. This is what unfair competition must be. What a great injustice is being done to those who are talented but lack the means.”