By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Determined to make some noise in Europe, Alex O’Connell was the latest addition to Umana Reyer Venice.
O’Connell, 24, tallied 8.9 points per G League game with the Stockton Kings in his rookie professional season, following an NCAA career split between Creighton and Duke. The explosive swingman moving his talents to Europe will shift focus to the BKT EuroCup and domestic competitions in Italy highlighted by LBA UnipolSai.
Playing for the team coached by the former assistant of the Memphis Grizzlies and Atlanta Hawks, Neven Spahija, his new teammates range to Jeff Brooks, Bruno Caboclo, Davide Casarin, Matteo Chillo, Andrea De Nicolao, Giga Janelidze, Jordan Parks, Aamir Simms, Marcu Spissu, Amedeo Tessitori, and Rayjon Tucker.
Kamar Baldwin returns to Europe
Dolomiti Energia Trento added the next piece in the form of Kamar Baldwin. The 25-year-old combo guard signed a one-year contract, the team announced Saturday morning. Other players named on the roster of the Italian club are Davide Alviti, Luca Conti, Quinn Ellis, Diego Flaccadori, Andejs Grazulis, Toto Forray, Maximilian Ladurner, and Mattia Udom.
Back to Europe following the G League experience with the Maine Celtics stretching throughout the 2022-23 season, Baldwin will debut in EuroCup carrying the experience of nine games played in the Basketball Champions League as a member of Turk Telekom. Overseas experience extended from the 2020-21 campaign in Turkey to the 2021-22 run in Germany with BG Gottingen.
Former Colorado standout McKinley Wright IV moved to Buducnost VOLI committing to his first season abroad. After logging 27 out of 32 games played in the NBA last season, he will join forces with Igor Drobnjak, Allerik Freeman, Andrija Grbovic, Marvin Jones, Alpha Kaba, Fletcher Magee, Petar Popovic, Cameron Reynolds, Andrija Slavkovic, and JaCorey Williams.
Cedevita Olimpija was busy on Saturday as well. Experienced shooting guard Sean Armand emerged as the latest newcomer. New head coach Simone Pianigiani also has Amar Alibegovic, Jaka Blazic, Sasa Ciani, Ziga Danue, Zoran Dragic, Gregor Glas, Justus Hollatz, Jan Kosi, Damian Kruzynski, Karlo Matkovic, Edo Muric, Alen Omic, Rok Radovic, Luka Scuka, Alexander Shashkov, and Amadou Sow on the roster.
Germany, Prometey, Slask, and more
Starting the rebuild following the easyCredit BBL championship, ratiopharm Ulm penned 16-year-old Noa Essengue to a multiyear contract and also tabbed Trevion Williams, a Purdue product. Staying in Germany, Veolia Towers Hamburg signed Nico Brauner to a one-year contract.
More EuroCup signings as Prometey added 25-year-old guard Arnoldas Kulboka. Caleb Agada, Ondrej Balvin, Jehyve Floyd, Marcus Keene, Oleksandr Lypovyy, Ronald March, Tai Odiase, Viacheslav Petrov, Davon Reed, Illia Sydorov, Ivan Tkachenko, and Andriy Voynaloyych were already placed in the 2023-24 squad.
Slask Wroclaw brought in both experienced floor general Hassani Gravett and promising upstart Szymon Nowicki. Teammates stretch to Daniel Golebiowski, Lukasz Kolenda, Jakub Niziol, Szymon Nowicki, Artsiom Parakhouski, and Aleksander Wisniewski.
In other recent moves, Nigerian forward Christian Mekowulu joined EuroCup newcomer BC Wolves and U-BT Cluj-Napoca retained Andrija Stipanovic.
Photo Credit: YouTube