Brothers Moniquet on top in different disciplines: Sylvain Lotto is a professional in Dusty, Valentin is a physiotherapist in NBA

In conversation with Le Soir, Valentine talks about his dream. “I played basketball myself for twenty years, but I quickly realized I couldn’t make a living at it,” he says. “So I had to find another way.”

That path used to go through studies. Like Father Didier, Valentin became a physiotherapist, having moved across the pond to Iowa a few years earlier, but also a caretaker-physiotherapist in Venti-Gobert. Baskets, however, remained in the cradle of the great love and preferably the game, the United States. “Although I never thought it could move so fast,” says Valentin. “Americans are very wary of Europeans. I had to leave my European baggage behind. All that matters is the experience I gained on American soil.”

Moniket joined a college team, the Iowa Hawkeyes, last fall. However, since last Tuesday, he has been working for the Oklahoma City Thunder, one of the NBA’s franchise teams. “I came to know through discussions that there was a candidate open for Physiotherapist slash Physical Coach in Oklahoma. I was finally selected out of 450 candidates. I doubted myself whether I wanted to go to the job interview because in Iowa I Time was going great. How did I convince him? Just by telling my life. Apparently he was convinced.

And from then on it went fast. “Two days later I got the redeeming call, and two days later I had to register in Oklahoma. I was given a tour and allowed to sign a contract until July 2024. Of course I’ll miss my family. But if my If the contract is not renewed for the next year, I will be forced to return anyway as my visa will no longer be in order.

The Oklahoma Thunder finished tenth in the Western Conference this season and failed to qualify for the playoffs. The squad has two French internationals, with Ousmane Dieng and Olivier Sarr.