An apparent dispute over his diet has led to Cleanthony Early being stripped of his $150K deal with AEK Athens. International writer David Pick cited “disciplinary reasons” for the Greek club terminating the contract that Early agreed to last week (Twitter link). The Knicks fan site, Posting and Toasting, part of SB Nation, fleshed out the story with a few now-deleted screen shots of messages between Early and a team official. Early is a vegan and claims he couldn’t find the food he needs close to Athens. He added that he lost seven pounds since coming to Greece and told the team to release him if there wasn’t a way to solve the problem.
There’s more basketball news from around the world:
- Brad Wanamaker, who was hoping to get an offer this summer from the Pelicans or Celtics, has accepted a deal with Fenerbahce in Turkey, according to Sportando (Twitter link).
- After two successful G League seasons, Xavier Munford is hoping a team will give him an invitation to training camp, writes Chris Reichert of 2 Ways and 10 Days. The 25-year-old point guard, who was part of the gold-medal-winning Team USA squad at AmeriCup, played briefly for the Grizzlies at the end of the 2015/16 season and was in training camp with the Clippers last year.
- Jaylen Bond, who spent last season with the Westchester Knicks in the G League, has signed with Flexx Pistoia in Italy, Reichert relays (Twitter link).
- Kevin Jones, who has spent the past three seasons overseas but was involved in a G League trade in March, is in advanced talks with Crvena Zvezda in Serbia, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. Jones’ only NBA experience came in 2012/13 with the Cavaliers.
I’ve seen long videos set in Greece where people would just reach up and grab figs or they were delivered by servants on trays while the Greeks lounged around in togas. So IDK what Cleanthony is talking about claiming there’s no vagan food near Athens. I think he just wants the NBA