By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Fenerbahce Beko officially parted ways with Giorgos Papagiannis. French import Amine Noua was also released by Fener on Tuesday.
Papagiannis, 27, recently confirmed his move to fellow Turkish Airlines EuroLeague participant, AS Monaco. La Roca Team formally added him to the roster for head coach Sasa Obradovic for the next season on Tuesday.
A former teammate at Fener and even more recently with the senior national team of Greece in the 2024 Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Nick Calathes also switched from the Istanbul outfit to Monaco during the offseason. Focusing on more international action, the pair is set to compete in the 2024 Olympic Games with Greece, before the 2024-25 club campaign.
Besides Calathes and Papagiannis, the back-to-back champions of France’s Betclic Elite picked up 29-year-old forward Vitto Brown from Pinar Karsiyaka. Re-signing players from the 2023-24 squad features Jaron Blossomgame, Mam Jaiteh, and Mike James.
A veteran of 191 games played in the EuroLeague between six years with Panathinaikos and last season with Fenerbahce, Papagiannis carries career averages of 7.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per contest. In 2021-22 with the Greens, he was named to the All-EuroLeague second team.
Packing 5.7 points and 3.1 rebounds per game in the 2023-24 installment of Europe’s premier club continental competition, he put in 6.8 points per game in a best-of-five series against Monaco, helping his former team edge out his next team for a spot in the 2024 Final Four.
Noua, 27, moved his talents to Fenerbahce last February. Resurfacing in the EuroLeague after 83 features with LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, he tallied 4.2 points per game over 12 appearances.