While Jabari Parker hasn't been relevant in NBA circles for some time due to devastating injuries that derailed his career, his tenure in Europe has also been on a downward trend lately.
Still, the former No. 2 overall pick recently went viral, though unfortunately not for his play on the court.
Parker recalled a harrowing incident from last season at a practice session with Partizan, the Serbian powerhouse competing in EuroLeague , when thousands of frustrated fans broke into the practice facility.
That story has now been confirmed by his former teammate and current Partizan captain Carlik Jones, who recounted the terrifying experience where players at one point even contemplated self-defense.
"It was bad, man. It was tough because after a while, the fans were turning on us. I don't know if you guys seen it on the media, but we were at practice and fans showed up to the gym and broke into the practice facility. And it got to a point where we were like scared for your safety. Yeah, so we were grabbing weights," Jones recalled on the "Euro Insiders" podcast. "We were grabbing weights from the weight room. We got weights in our hand just in case we have to do… We don't want to, but the hate and the stuff that the players are getting, we might have to defend ourselves. There were thousands of them outside. They broke the glass to get into the practice facility."
Jones is also a former NBA player, with seven games under his belt split across the Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets and Chicago Bulls. However, U.S. basketball fans might best remember him from the exhibition games ahead of the 2024 Olympics, when he recorded a triple-double against Team USA playing for South Sudan.
He is also one of the top guards in the EuroLeague and likely one of the few players whom die-hard Partizan fans actually like. The entire situation unfolded last year when, following a string of poor results, European basketball icon Zeljko Obradovic resigned from his position as head coach for the first time in his career.
While Jones was one of the few players spared from the fans' wrath, finding himself inside the facility that day, shocked by the sight of a mob of enraged fans on the verge of physical violence, he admitted it was his first real realization of just how intense European fan culture can be.
It highlights an incredible contrast in sports culture between Europe and the U.S., where some fans take their devotion to their team to lengths that border on irrationality.
In the States, people get passionate about sports and will yell a lot of insults at players if they are feeling frustrated about the results. But most of the time, it's seen as kind of a hobby and it's rare to see fans go over the line.
In Europe, it's different. A lot of ultras fans look at sports as a matter of life and death and that's when things like these can, sadly, escalate.
Fortunately, no one got hurt and that's all that matters in the end.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Nov 4, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
