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.
1. Evan Fournier
New team: Olympiacos
Previous team: Detroit Pistons
Country: France
2023-24 stats: 6.9 points and 1.8 rebounds per NBA game
A veteran of 723 NBA games, Evan Fournier will debut in the EuroLeague. In a late boost to the roster, Olympiacos confirmed high ambitions for the next season with the biggest EuroLeague move of the summer.
“If one day I had to return to Europe and I had the choice to go wherever I wanted, I think I would go for Olympiacos. It’s still a hell of a club,” the experienced swingman predicted the future in a post on Twitter, now X, back in 2022.
After being selected with the 20th overall pick of the 2012 NBA draft, Fournier went from the Denver Nuggets to the Orlando Magic, Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, and Detroit Pistons. He had a solid career over the last 12 years, but it was time for a change of scenery.
Before moving his talents to the league based in North America, the early stages of his professional career featured Poitiers Basket 86 and JSF Nanterre, limited to domestic competitions in France. With the Reds, he will jump into the EuroLeague action in a highly-anticipated 2024-25 season.
2. Cedi Osman
New team: Panathinaikos
Previous team: San Antonio Spurs
Country: Turkiye
2023-24 stats: 6.8 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per NBA game
Everything seemed relaxed on a Saturday morning in early September, a few days after Olympiacos dropped the Evan Fournier bomb and teams were starting to prepare for the upcoming season. Then, Dimitris Giannakopoulos announced a shocking transfer: Cedi Osman is a new Panathinaikos player.
Rumored to be in negotiations with Real Madrid to strengthen Chus Mateo’s team after ending the 2023-24 season as EuroLeague runner-up, he instead decided to join the ones who beat them in Berlin. Like Omer Yurtseven, he will share paths once again with Turkiye’s head coach Ergin Ataman.
Coming off a difficult season in the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs at the bottom of the NBA standings, he was eager to come back to competitive basketball. What better way to do it than following the case of Evan Fournier, Sasha Vezenkov, Jordan Nwora, and more? EuroLeague welcomes its alumni back.
3. Sasha Vezenkov
New team: Olympiacos
Previous team: Sacramento Kings
Country: Bulgaria
2023-24 stats: 5.4 points and 2.3 rebounds per NBA game
After being named season MVP and receiving the Alphonso Ford EuroLeague Top Scorer Trophy, Sasha Vezenkov left Olympiacos. There was some unfinished business in Piraeus leading to his return after one year in the NBA.
Vezenkov, 29, lacked playing time with the Sacramento Kings. He featured in 42 games of the Regular Season, averaging 12.2 minutes per contest. Struggling to get things going, he ended up reunited with the Reds, after being traded to the Toronto Raptors and subsequently waived during the offseason.
The last time out, he fell narrowly short of becoming a EuroLeague champion, thanks to Sergio Llull. Fueled by that experience and eager to bounce back in style, he seems determined to get the job done in May.