TBILISI (Georgia) - Omer Kutluay already looks like a superstar in the making after helping Türkiye breeze into an unbeaten start at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2025. A major reason for that was learning the game from his famous father, Ibrahim Kutluay.
The younger Kutluay has dominated the competition in Tbilisi thus far as he averages 21.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. His biggest performance came in the opening game where he collected 25 points against Israel.
Kutluay is actually playing in this competition for a second time. Last summer in Heraklion he was the leading scorer for Türkiye at 19 points through four games to go with 4.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.3 steals despite being a year younger.
But a toe injury forced the point guard to miss the rest of the tournament and the team ended up losing to Greece in the Quarter-Finals and then dropping the final two classification games to finish eighth.
"I learned that every game matters and we always have to focus on winning," Kutluay said looking back on the lesson of last summer.
Türkiye are one of just six nations to win the U16 EuroBasket at least three times along with Yugoslavia (nine titles), Spain (six), France (four), Croatia (four) and Soviet Union (three).
Türkiye's previous triumphs came in 1977, 2005 and 2012. The latter was the country's glorious 1996 generation of Okben Ulubay, Berk Ugurlu, Tolga Gecim, Ege Arar and Egemen Guven, who went on to win back-to-back FIBA U18 EuroBaskets in 2013 and 2014 as well as taking third place at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2015 and FIBA U20 EuroBasket 2016.
"We have a promising team so we want to repeat it," Kutluay said of finally snapping Türkiye's title-less drought.
Kutluay grew up being coached by his father, Ibrahim Kutluay, one of the top scorers in his country's history. Ibrahim played for Türkiye in seven EuroBaskets from 1995 to 2007 as well as two FIBA Basketball World Cups.
His biggest achievement was taking second place at the 2001 EuroBasket and he also helped Greek side Panathinaikos Athens to the 2002 EuroLeague crown.
"He taught me to enjoy what I do and love the game," the younger Kutluay said of his father, who founded the Ibrahim Kutluay Basketball Academy in 2001.
Omer Kutluay played there until he was 13 when he moved to Anadolu Efes Istanbul and won the Turkish U14 title as Most Valuable Player in 2023. He then moved to Real Madrid and this past season helped the club win the Spanish U16 domestic title, scoring 10 points with 4 rebounds and 3 assists in the Final against Barcelona.
Kutluay is a big fan of Luka Doncic and Vasilije Micic, but he also studies the European game.
"I am a point guard so I watch players like Mike James, Shane Larkin and Kendrick Nunn," Kutluay said.
The young playmaker is the leader of the Turkish team who came to Georgia as one of the main favorites.
Türkiye had a good test before the U16 EuroBasket as they won the biennial European Youth Olympic Festival in Skopje. Kutluay was named the MVP of the U16 tournament, top-scoring in the tournament with 27.9 points per game, including 31 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists in the Final.
"We saw other teams and we beat tough teams so it motivated us and we will fight even more for the EuroBasket," said Kutluay, who also scored 30 points in Türkiye's victory over Serbia in the Semi-Finals.
The U16 EuroBasket is also the qualifying tournament for the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2026. Türkiye, however, do not need to qualify as they are hosting the cadet world championship in Istanbul.
And Kutluay is really looking forward to facing the best of the world next summer.
"It's a great opportunity for me to show people what I can do. I'm looking forward to playing against USA because there are a lot of players that have NBA potential and I want to face them," he said.
Until then, Kutluay will be focused on becoming the part of Türkiye's next U16 EuroBasket champion.
FIBA