World Cup standout Arturs Zagars has officially signed with Turkish club Fenerbahce and has been loaned to Lithuanian team BC Wolves, as Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops.net relays. A recent report suggested that was the likely outcome for Zagars, who attracted NBA interest based in part on his strong play for Latvia at this year’s World Cup.
Zagars averaged 12.4 points, 7.4 assists, and 2.6 rebounds in 25.2 minutes per game across his eight World Cup appearances, making 48.6% of his shots from the floor and 41.7% of his three-pointers. The 23-year-old, who spent last season playing in Lithuania, was named to the All-World Cup Second Team.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- A panel of ESPN’s NBA reporters weighed in on which sophomore players are the best candidates to break out in 2023/24, with Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe, Rockets forward Tari Eason, and Hornets big man Mark Williams among those to earn votes. Mavericks guard Jaden Hardy, Nuggets wing Peyton Watson, and Spurs swingman Malaki Branham were some of the players picked to be effective under-the-radar contributors in their second NBA season.
- In an Insider-only story for ESPN.com, Bobby Marks takes an in-depth look at the players who could become eligible for a super-max contract by meeting certain performance criteria in 2023/24, and projects what those max deals would look like. We published our own preview of this season’s super-max candidates last week.
- Which free agent contracts and extensions were the most favorable deals completed by teams this offseason? Keith Smith of Spotrac identifies 10 he believes fit that bill, including multiple signings by the Mavericks (Kyrie Irving, Seth Curry), Bucks (Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez), and Lakers (Austin Reaves, Gabe Vincent).