Trevor Mbakwe has signs with AEK Athens in Greece for the team's playoff stretch, Ballers Abroad has learned. AEK will be the third team that Mbakwe suits up for this season, having started the year with MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg in Germany before moving to Osaka Evessa in Japan. The sixth-year pro averaged 8.6 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, which included competition in the Basketball Champions League.
He joins an AEK team that was recently bounced from the Basketball Champions League but still has a lot to play for domestically, sitting in third place in the A1 League standings with a 17-8 record. Mbakwe has alos played in Italy, Germany, Israel and Russia during his professional career.
Scotty Hopson is returning to Europe. Hopson signed with Hapoel Holon in Israel for the remainder of the season after spending the majority of the 2018-2019 season with the Oklahoma City Blue in the NBA G League. In 35 games, the Tennessee grad averaged 16.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game, a season which even included a call-up to the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder.
Hopson last played in Europe during the 2017-2018 season when he suited up for Galatasaray Odeabank in Turkey. He joins a Hapoel Holon team that is jockeying for position in the Winner League playoffs, as they currently sit in third place in the league standings with a 19-7 record.
Greg Whittington has been putting up impressive numbers all month, but it's his most recent performance that's got us talking. Whittington scored a season-high 29 points to go along with 14 rebounds and five assists in Hapoel Gilboa Galil's 96-93 victory over Ironi Nahariya in the Israeli Winner League. The big man is averaging a solid 18.3 points and 9.6 rebounds per game, but he really elevated his stats as his team tries to snag one of the final playoff spots. Gilboa Galil currently sits in tenth place in the league standings with a 10-17 record, two games back of eighth place, but if Whittington can continue to produce performances like he did next week, Gilboa Galil could be a force to be reckoned with.
After three seasons in Australia, Casper Ware is returning once again to the Land Down Under - but for a new team. Ware signed a multi-year contract with the Sydney Kings in Australia's National Basketball League after spending the last three years playing for Melbourne United.
A veteran on the international scene since graduating from Long Beach State in 2012, Ware averaged 18.9 points and 4.3 assists per game for Melbourne as the team finished with an 18-10 record and made it to the NBL Finals. He's had massive success with United in his three years there, winning the NBL title in 2018. He joins a Sydney Kings side that he helped defeat in the 2019 NBL playoffs, as United swept their semifinal series with the Kings. |