Wednesday we heard that eight-year NBA veteran Darius Songaila signed with the Ukrainian team BC Donetsk, but apparently that doesn't mean he won't play in the Association this year. He told Lina Motužytė of the Lithuanian website Irytas.lt (translation via LithuaniaBasketball.com) that his contract includes an out in case an opportunity to play in the NBA arises. It's unclear how much his deal is worth, but Motužytė reports that Songaila passed up more lucrative offers from elsewhere in Europe for the flexbility BC Donetsk offered.
“I don’t want to spend the whole year somewhere in Europe far away from my daughter. It would be much better if I could live in the States, where I could visit her without too much effort,” Songaila said.
The 6'9" forward averaged 7.1 minutes per game over a 10-game stint with the Sixers in 2010/11, his last NBA action. Before that, he averaged double-figure minutes in each of his first seven seasons, and has career numbers of 6.9 points and 3.4 rebounds per game with a 13.3 PER. Songaila split last season between Galatasaray Istanbul in Turkey and the Spanish team Blancos de Rueda Valladolid, averaging a combined 8.8 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 16.6 MPG.