Veteran forward/center and former NBA champion Serge Ibaka has signed a one-year contract with Real Madrid, the Spanish team announced on Friday in a press release. The agreement was initially reported in early June.
Ibaka, who will turn 35 in September, last played in the NBA in 2022/23, when he appeared in 16 games for Milwaukee. He spent the ’23/24 season with Bayern Munich and won a German League championship with the team.
A three-time All-Defensive player who received votes for Defensive Player of the Year for four consecutive seasons from 2011-14, Ibaka averaged 12.0 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks in 27.3 minutes per game across 919 NBA regular season appearances from 2009-23.
Although he was a key rotation player for the Raptors’ 2019 title team and remained productive for a couple more seasons after that, the big man was eventually slowed by back issues that limited his availability and his effectiveness.
However, Ibaka had a nice bounce-back season in Germany in 2023/24, averaging 12.6 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and 1.3 BPG with a shooting line of .598/.480/.667 in 28 EuroLeague games for Bayern Munich.
Ibaka, who had a brief stint with Real Madrid during the 2011 NBA lockout, is one of two veteran NBA bigs who has long been expected to join the Spanish club this offseason. There have also been reports that Usman Garuba will land in Madrid, though nothing is official yet on that front.
Both Ibaka and Garuba have represented Spain in international competition, with Garuba playing for the Spanish team at this year’s Olympics.