By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Real Madrid and French point guard Thomas Heurtel have parted ways, the team announced Wednesday.
Heurtel, 33, recently discussed the last few months at Los Blancos confirming he was on his way out. Minus a brief showing in the ACB Playoffs best-of-five series opposite Bitci Baskonia, he was sidelined since early April. Returning to action and recovering his previous role didn’t come to fruition after he was declared free to go alongside Trey Thompkins despite actually remaining part of the team until the end of the 2021-22 season.
Coming off the 2020-21 campaign split between FC Barcelona and LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, the French point guard penned a one-year contract moving to Madrid last July. Other former teams producing games played in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague are Anadolu Efes and Baskonia.
His 12th season in the EuroLeague featured 9.0 points, 4.6 assists, 2.4 rebounds, and 0.6 steals per contest over 27 appearances. In his absence, the Whites finished the Regular Season in the fourth spot of the standings, swept Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv in the Playoffs, and edged rival Barca in the Final Four Semifinals, but fell to defending champion Efes in the championship game held in Belgrade.
At the domestic level, Heurtel put up 8.3 points, 4.2 assists, 2.4 rebounds, and 0.5 steals per game in Spain’s Liga Endesa. The team coached by Pablo Laso went all the way to capture the ACB championship beating Barcelona 3-1 in the best-of-five Finals, after sweeping Baskonia and Baxi Manresa in the Semifinals and Quarterfinals, respectively. In the remaining domestic competitions, Madrid also won the 2021 Supercopa but was the runner-up in the 2022 Copa del Rey.
Photo Credit: EuroleagueBasketball.net