NBA veteran PJ Tucker has been one of the best role players in the league over the past few seasons. While he might be a well-established name in the league now, that wasn’t the case when he first joined the NBA. Coming out of Texas, Tucker was cut from the Toronto Raptors team by his second year in the league. That’s when he decided to take his talents to other leagues like Israel and Ukraine to boost his career.

In a recent podcast appearance with Golden State Warriors legend Andre Iguodala, Tucker talked about his experiences playing in the war-torn country of Ukraine.

PJ Tucker reminisces about his time in Ukraine

The European nation of Ukraine has been under immense pressure for over a year. They have been in constant conflict with their neighbor Russia since 2021 and it doesn’t look like the conflict will end anytime soon. During this time, a huge number of Ukrainian cities have been razed to the ground.

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And recently, the 2021 NBA champion PJ Tucker joined Andre Iguodala on his podcast. While talking about his time playing in countries like Israel and Ukraine, Tucker talked about the effect of war on the place he lived in.

“The city that I played in, it was a major city, probably the second or third largest outside of Kyiv. It’s not even a city anymore. It’s completely…….there’s nothing, it was a major city”, said Tucker.

Tucker played 2 seasons for BC Donetsk, which is based in one of the biggest cities in Ukraine. Additionally, he also spent 2 seasons in Israel while also playing in Greece and Germany.

Tucker didn’t really enjoy his time there

The 38-year-old was born and brought up in the United States of America. Naturally, it was difficult to settle down in a foreign country with entirely different cultures and food habits.

“It’s different, it’s not for everybody, but I enjoyed it”, said the 2021 NBA champion as per Libertyballers. He wasn’t really fond of the food there and there was also a language barrier. Moreover, the strong winter winds in the Eastern European country also made his stay difficult.

In his two seasons in Ukraine, Tucker turned into an effective role player. This massively helped in his development and has also helped him establish himself in the league. 

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