By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Real Madrid has loaned Matteo Spagnolo to Dolomiti Energia Trento, as announced Thursday.
Spagnolo, 19, was recently picked up by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the 50th overall selection of the 2022 NBA draft. After appearing in five NBA Summer League contests, bouncing back to Europe for further development was the decision for his immediate future. Featuring at Trento and thus debuting in the 7DAYS EuroCup shapes the next challenge for the young upstart. He spent the 2021-22 season on loan to yet another team of his home country Vanoli Cremona. His new Italian team has already secured the additions of Darion Atkins, Andrejs Grazulis, and Mattia Udom during the offseason.
Coming in from a solid campaign at MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg, James Woodard joined the Veolia Hamburg Towers for the next season. The former Tulsa standout will be teaming up with Yoeli Childs, Kendale McCullum, Christoph Phillipps, Len Schoormann, and Jonas Wohlfarth-Bottermann, all also added to the squad during the offseason alongside new head coach Raoul Korner. Team captain Seth Hinrichs and Lukas Meisner are the returning players.
Completing the 2022-23 squad, Hapoel SP Tel Aviv picked up Chris Horton. The Austin Peay product playing in Europe for the last five years is another EuroCup newcomer. Tomer Ginat, Xavier Munford, and Travis Warech were the previous arrivals confirmed by the Israeli club. Staying in Tel Aviv are JP Tokoto, Gil Benny, Lotan Amsalem, Bar Timor, James Young, Adam Raz, Idan Zalmanson, and J’Covan Brown.
Moving to Lithuania, Paulius Murauskas was loaned from Turkish Airlines EuroLeague outfit Zalgiris to Lietkabelis. The 18-year-old forward is coming off a strong display in Betsafe LKL as a member of Nevezis-OPTIBET. Previous arrivals for the EuroCup team playing out of Panevezys are Gyorgy Goloman, Jamel Morris, Stefan Peno, Mantas Rubstavicius, and Zeljko Sakic, while Vytenis Lipkevicius and Gabrielius Maldunas remain from the 2021-22 squad.
Back to Prometey, D. J. Kennedy and D. J. Stephens both returned following their departure in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine midway through the 2021-22 season. Both penned one-year contracts. Other players projected to play for Ronen Ginzburg are Caleb Agada, Ondrej Balvin, Gian Clavell, Dustin Hogue, Denys Lukashov, Oleksandr Lypovyy, Viacheslav Petrov, Issuf Sanon, Illya Sidorov, and Ivan Tkachenko.
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL