By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Denis Zakharov inks a two-year contract to join Zenit Saint-Petersburg, the Russian club announced on Monday.
“Moving to Zenit is a big step forward in my career,” he mentioned, per Zenit’s official site, “It’s a big level of competition both in VTB League and in Euroleague, and the club has big goals in both of them, so it’s good for me.”
The Russian guard is coming off three seasons with Enisey Krasnoyarsk. His other professional stops include Lokomotiv Kuban and Nizhny Novgorod. However, the 2020-21 season will mark his first in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
“I made the right choice because it’s flattering to every player to know that a Euroleague club wants to have me,” he pointed out, “I was amazed by Zenit fans when I saw them at the games, I suppose they root even louder during Euroleague games.”
Zakharov averaged 11.3 points, 2.6 assists, and 2.3 rebounds per FIBA Europe Cup match during the 2019-20 season. In addition, he put up 11.8 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per VTB United League contest. Both competitions ended prematurely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We believe that it is a good step in his career and that at 27 he can further evolve his game, so we think we are incorporating a player from the present but also from the future,” said Zenit head coach Xavi Pascual, “He will cover two positions, both 1 and 2 and can give us creation speed and points as well as defensive aggressiveness in some aspects.”