Oklahoma City Thunder's Thabo Sefolosha signs with Turkish club team Fenerbahce Ulker – NBA News
Oklahoma City (OKC) Thunder has temporarily lost its second player to a foreign club courtesy of the NBA lockout.
OKC’s 6 ft 7 reserve shooting guard, Thabo Sefolosha has acceded to play in Turkey. This news was broken by a Swiss Television network on Tuesday night and was later confirmed by Thabo’s agent Guy Zucker.
Sefolosha will be representing the renowned Turkish club Fenerbahce Ulker and it is believed that he will be signing the contract by Wednesday. The deal will include an exit clause which will give him leverage to move back to NBA
whenever the next NBA season starts.
According to Zucker, talks between him and Fenerbahce have been going on for a while, but because there was still hope for the NBA season to start on time, no concrete development could take place. However, it all changed on Monday
after NBA officially cancelled the first two weeks of the regular season. The announcement was the catalyst, Zucker, Sefolosha and Fenerbahce Ulker needed for the move to materialize. Shedding more light on the deal, Zucker said;
“These lockout talks are going nowhere, and Thabo did not want to spend the whole season or most of the season sitting at home. He wanted to play. It's extremely difficult to predict if we're going to get a quick solution or if
it's going to become a much more protracted battle with the owners regarding the new CBA. We waited until the last moment and then that moment passed.
Fenerbahce, that takes part in the Euro League, has won consecutive Turkish cups and is seen as one of the most prominent basketball clubs in Europe.
Playing in Turkey should not be a problem for Thabo as he is originally from Switzerland and spends the NBA offseason in his homeland. His background and familiarity with European style of play should help him acclimatize quickly.
His agent also believes the same;
“I don't think that he will face the same adjustment that a lot of big name American players are. His adjustment period will be significantly shorter than it would be for someone who has never played in Europe before.”
Byron Mullens was the first Thunder player to go overseas during the lockout. However with the next NBA season now in a limbo, there can be more Thunder players willing to join the overseas bandwagon.
Tags: