By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
It is not over just yet. However, the offseason traditionally combined with solid signings for Turkish Airlines EuroLeague clubs extended to this summer. A sweltering summer, indeed.
Looking forward to the 2024-25 season tipoff on October 3 and awaiting more impressive additions, Eurohoops compiled a list with the Top 10 summer signings.
Looking to boost their respective squads, all 18 EuroLeague teams completed several transfers over recent months, between internal league moves and attracting players from the NBA.
Eurohoops picked the best summer moves ranking them from first to tenth with one single team holding the top two spots.
Honorable mentions: Will Clyburn, Carlik Jones, and more
This EuroLeague summer transfer market was so eventful that a few names had to be excluded from the Top-10 list despite bringing significant hope to their new clubs.
One of the honorable mentions must be Will Clyburn, who joined Virtus Bologna at 34 to try to help the black-and-white side “get over the hump”. He brings winning experience with him, considering he lifted the EuroLeague trophy in 2019 with CSKA and is hunting for revenge after his Efes days.
Talking about black-and-white teams, Partizan Belgrade strengthened itself with Carlik Jones, South Sudan’s playmaking sensation in both the World Cup and the Olympics. He averaged 18.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 7.7 assists in Paris, and Zeljko Obradovic will count on his unpredictability of solutions.
Another Olympian who’s coming – or returning, in this case – to Europe is Usman Garuba, who made his comeback to Real Madrid three years after first moving to the NBA. He couldn’t translate his versatile skills into huge playing time in Houston, and he will now reunite with the Spanish powerhouse.
If Usman Garuba and Serge Ibaka – we will come back to him later – joined Walter Tavares in Real Madrid‘s massive frontcourt, somebody had to leave to create some space under the rim. Sharing duties with the Capoverdian center, Vincent Poirier grew recently and has now moved to Anadolu Efes.
Keeping with the back-to-back EuroLeague champions in 2022 and 2023, the Turkish side is going through a mix of renovation and confirmations. If Will Clyburn left and Shane Larkin was confirmed, another go-to-guy like Stanley Johnson joined the side to have his first overseas experience.
Finally, the EuroLeague assists leader moved from Baskonia to Crvena Zvezda: after averaging 9.6 points and 7.3 assists per game while recording a historic triple-double with 20 assists against ALBA Berlin, Codi Miller-McIntyre will learn from another playmaking master like Milos Teodosic.