PARIS (Reuters) – Nando De Colo hit out at French sports minister Amelie Oudea Castera for congratulating him for becoming the top scorer in European Cup history almost a week late on Wednesday.
“LeBron James becomes the best scorer in the history of the NBA by surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who held this record since 1984,” Oudea-Castera tweeted after James reached 38,390 points scored in the NBA – three more than Abdul-Jabbar in a home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“Congratulations to this (very) great champion and also to our basketball player Nando De Colo who became the best scorer in the history of European Cups,” the post added.
Oudea-Castera’s mention of France shooting guard and former NBA player De Colo, however, came five days after the Tokyo Olympics silver medallist reached 4,917 career points in the European Cup in his club ASVEL’s game against Bologna, beating the previous mark set (4,904) by Greek Nikos Galis in 1995.
“With all due respect, Minister, it’s a shame to wait for a foreign record to congratulate your own athletes. But thank you all the same,” De Colo wrote on Twitter.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Christian Radnedge)