Trevor Releford is returning to Germany after signing with Basketball Lowen Braunschweig in the Basketball Bundesliga, Ballers Abroad has learned. Releford also played in the BBL last season for Mitteldeutscher BC, avergaing 13.0 points and 5.2 assists per game for MBC as the team finished in the bottom half of the BBL standings with a 10-24 record. He will join a Basketball Lowen Braunschweig that sneaked into the playoffs last year with a 17-17 record, though they did get swept in the quarterfinal round 3-0 by Bayern Munich.
Releford heads into his seventh year as a pro having also played in Poland for a season, a brief spell in Israel and the majority of his career in Greece (three seasons for two teams). His brother, fellow Baller Abroad Travis Releford, has not yet signed for the upcoming season.
Big man Deshawn Stephens will play in Italy's top division for the first time in his career after signing with Fortitudo Bologna September 18. The seventh-year pro arrives from Israel, where he spent the 2018-2019 season split between Maccabi Rishon LeZion and Hapoel Tel Aviv. In 33 games played total, Stephens averaged 10.3 points an 5.1 rebounds, helping Hapoel Tel Aviv finish their season by advancing to the Winner League playoffs in Israel's top league.
He will join a Fortitudo Bologna team that will be playing in Lega Basket Serie A for the first time since the club was dissolved from competition in 2009. Fortitudo was re-founded in 2013 and has worked their way back into the top tier after winning the Serie A2 league in 2019. The San Diego State product had a career year last time he played in Italy, averaging 16.1 points per game for Cagliari Dinamo Academy in SerieA2 during the 2017-2018 season.
BM Slam Ostrow Wielkopolski in Poland announced their signing of Omar Calhoun September 16. This will be the first time Calhoun will play in Poland after stops in Finland, Italy and Russia as he heads into his fourth season of pro hoops. Last year, the UConn grad started the season by playing briefly with Red October Cantu before spending the majority of the year with BC Spartak Primorye in the Russian Super League 1. There, Calhoun averaged 17.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game as his club finished with a 15-15 record and missed out on the league playoffs.
He will join a Slam Stal team that is hoping to return to the glory they reached in 2018 when they advanced to the finals of the EBL championship. Last year they had a respectable season, going 20-10 and advancing to the quarterfinals in the league playoffs.
After three years with Bnei Herzeliya in the Winner League, Jeff Adrien is joining a new team in Israel after signing with Ironi Nahariya Sept. 11. A long-time veteran of the international hoops scene, the 33-year-old big man played for Herzeliya since 2016, averaging 14.4 points and 8.0 rebounds per game over the course of his three seasons there. As successful as Adrien was for Herzeliya, the team finished in last place during the 2018-2019 Winner League season and were relegated to the National League, Israel's second division.
He joins a Nahariya team that did not fare much better last season, as they finished one spot above Herzeliya in the Winner League standings with a 10-22 record. However, the addition of Americans Tony Gaffney, Jerel McNeal, Travis Warech and Dominic Waters in addition to Adrien should give the team a boost headed into the upcoming season, which begins in October.
Third-year shooting guard Jaylen Morris will play in Europe for the first time in his career after signing with Aris Thessaloniki in Greece's top division. Morris spent the first two seasons of his career in the United States, where he mostly plied his trade in the NBA G League with a few appearances each season in the NBA. He spent the 2018-2019 season with the Erie BayHawks and the Wisconsin Herd of the NBA G League, averaging 14.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game while also appearing in four NBA games for the Milwaukee Bucks.
He will join a Aris Thessaloniki team that missed out on the A1 League playoffs last season after finishing 8-18 during the regular season. In addition to Morris, the additions of veterans Gary Bell and Gary McGhee should help give a boost a team that last made the playoffs in 2017.
Rookie guard Cameron Young is the newest player for Red October Cantu after signing with the Italian squad September 6. Young blossomed into the 2019 MAAC Player of the Year while playing for Quinnipiac University after arriving at the school via junior college transfer in 2016. He averaged 23.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game during his senior season, scoring more than 1,300 points in only two seasons at Quinnipiac.
He joins a Cantu team that narrowly missed out on the Serie A playoffs after finishing with a 16-14 record. After a few lackluster seasons Cantu has reloaded for the 2019-2020 campaign, signing five other Americans this season including Corban Collins, Wes Clark, Jeremiah Wilson, Kevarrius Hayes and Jason Burrell. |