Mickell Gladness is the newest member of SL Benfica after signing with the Portuguese team February 28. Gladness joins the side from Italy, where he had been playing for The Flexx Pistoia in the Lega Basket Serie A league, after starting the 2018-2019 season with Ironi Nes Ziona in Israel.
In 23 games, the 32-year-old center averaged 8.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, which included competing in the FIBA Europe Cup. The Alabama A&M grad will be on an SL Benfica team that sits in second place in the LPB standings, one game back of first place with a 16-2 record. He joins Americans Micah Downs, Arnette Hallman and Charles Cooper on the roster.
The defending French champs Le Mans Sarthe Basket have added Kendrick Ray to their roster. Ray joins the squad on loan from Israel, where played forMaccabi Tel Aviv in the Israeli Winner League. On a crowded roster, Ray was unable to find much of a rhythm, averaging 4.8 points and 1.1 assists per game this season in limited action. He gets a fresh start with a Le Mans team that is in the thick of the playoff race, as the team currently sits in 10th place in the league standings with a 10-10 record. The team will also utilize Ray in their upcoming Round of 16 match-up in the Basketball Champions League against Virtus Segafredo Bologna, which begins March 12. Ray was the NBL (Czechia) Most Valuable Player during his rookie season 2018.
Tony Carr is moving to a new team in Italy. Carr signed with Red October Cantu earlier today after starting the season with Fiat Torino, another team in Lega Basket Serie A. The former Penn State star averaged 12.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game for Torino, including scoring 13.1 points per game in Eurocup play.
He will join a Cantu team that is in the thick of the playoff race in Serie A. They currently sit on the outside looking in but are only one game back of a playoff spot with a 9-10 record. This will be the second stop in Carr's rookie season after earning All-American honors at Penn State during the 2017-2018 season. He also was a 1,000-point scorer in only two seasons as a Nittany Lion.
Justin Watts is the newest player for King Wilki Morski Szczecin in Poland after signing with the team February 25. King Szczecin will be the third team that Watts will play for this season after starting the season with BC Pieno Zvaigzdes in Lithuania and then moving on to Fribourg Olympic in Switzerland.
The UNC product has been having a solid season overall so far, averaging 8.8 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game for both Zvaigzdes and Fribourg. Watts has prior experience playing in Poland, having spent the 2017-2018 season with Czarni Slupsk where he averaged 15.8 points per game in league play. He joins a King Szczecin team that is in the middle of a hotly contested playoff race, as they currently sit in eighth place in the EBL standings with a 9-9 record.
Andrew Warren has reportedly left Pompea Mantova in Italy and signed with Mitteldeutscher BC in Germany's Basketball Bundesliga. Warren averaged 12.6 points and 2.9 assists per game in 10 games played for Mantova, a team in Italy's second division. He has prior experience playing for Mitteldeutscher BC, having played there from 2016-2018, including when he averaged 17.5 points per game for MBC during the 2016-2017 season. MBC will need Warren's scoring abilities to improve on their poor standing this season, as they currently sit in sixteenth place out of 18 teams with a 4-16 record in the BBL standings.
Hapoel Be'er Sheva has announced their signing of guard Kerron Johnson to replace the departing Silas Melson. Johnson arrives in Israel after starting the season in Italy with The Flexx Pistoia in Lega Basket Serie A, the country's top division. In 18 games, Johnson averaged 12.2 points and 3.8 assists per game for Pistoia. The Belmont grad has also played in New Zealand, Germany, France and Poland during his career.
He joins a Be'er Sheva team that is in the thick of the playoff race, as they are currently tied with Maccabi Rishon LeZion for fifth place with a 9-9 record. |