By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Andrei Kirilenko certainly belongs to the NBA and just after one season at Europe he returns to USA. As he said to Ria Novosti news agency: “I’ll continue my career in the NBA. Which club in particular, we’ll know in a day or two. After such a stronger season with CSKA I understand that I can still play at a high level. I’m 31 but I can still play and still want to play.”
This is an unexpected turn of events for CSKA Moscow. According to multiple sources from Russia as Eurohoops reported, Kirilenko had decided to stay with the team one more season and that was one of the reason for the decision of former NBAer Nenad Krstic to stay also at Moscow.
After all, the NBA opt out in Kirilenko’s contract expired at the 12th of July, but CSKA Moscow respecting his status as a national icon in Russia gave him permission to continue exploring the NBA market. Now, CSKA has also to enter the market in order to fill the open forward spot that Kirilenko leaves behind.