By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
Even in his bad days, Josean Querejeta still finds the way to earn money by selling his players. The financial problems of Baskonia are huge, the debts are increasing and next season’s roster still has many gaps. However, Josean always finds a solution and this time the “medicine” for Baskonia‘s problems will be Tibor Pleiss.
During the summer there was interest for the German center from Moscow (CSKA) and Munich (Bayern), but Querejeta was hoping to receive an offer from the NBA. This was his wish and he was expressing it loudly because the NBA out in Pleiss’ contract was roughly 600.000 euros. Oklahoma City Thunder have his rights but they didn’t make a move for him, added in their roster other big guys and also didn’t trade him.
At this point, only Barcelona really wants the player on late July as a replacement of Joey Dorsey. The Basques asked for a one million euros buy out as “Mundo Deportivo” revealed. but the Catalans know that there aren’t many other options in the market for Querejeta. That’s why Barca is expected to pay less than half a million for the buy out. It’s no secret that Querejeta needs to sell Pleiss in order to get rid of his contract for next season, avoid last season’s debts to the player and earn some money in the process. Baskonia owes almost half of the salaries to its ex players, so the sell of Pleiss will give to Querejeta a deep financial breath.
So, if everything goes well, Pleiss will follow the same path like many other players who played for Baskonia in the past. Take a look at the best past buy out deals and take into consideration that the name of the talented German big guy will be placed probably after this dozen of transfers. As the latin saying goes: “O tempora, o mores”.
The best deals of Baskonia
Andre Nocioni –Bulls (2.500.000 euros)
Luis Scola –Rockets (2.300.000 euros)
Marcelinhio Huertas – Barcelona (1.500.000 euros)
Arvydas Macijauskas – Hornets (1.500.000 euros)
Jose Calderon – Raptors (1.500.000 euros)
Mirza Teletovic – Nets (1.400.000 euros)
Zoran Planinic – CSKA Moscow (1.000.000 euros)
Brad Oleson– Barcelona (1.000.000 euros)
Nemanja Bjelica – Fenerbahce (1.000.000 euros)
Fabricio Oberto – Valencia (800.000 euros)
Tiago Splitter – Spurs (770.000 euros)
Goran Dragic – Suns (500.00 euros)