With 24 teams preparing to battle for a spot in the Basketball Champions League Regular Season, several signings boost respective bids in the Qualification tournaments
By Johnny Askounis/ [email protected]
After recently signing Nikola Malesevic, Andrej Mitrevski, and Austin Price, two more moves were completed by Pelister Bitola with 30-year-old Kevin Bracy-Davis on Friday and 27-year-old Jordan Skipper-Brown on Saturday. Both US imports inked a deal for the 2025-26 journey, starting from the Basketball Champions League Qualifiers and an opportunity to complete Group C of the Regular Season, alongside Joventut Badalona, Hapoel Netanel Holon, and Cholet.
In the same eight-team Qualifiers group, Bursaspor Yorsan picked up 26-year-old Galin Smith on a one-year contract, the team announced on Friday. In the fifth campaign of his professional career, the former Maryland and Alabama standout will introduce himself to the BCL, similar to the aforementioned entries for the Bitola outfit.
Also on Friday, Petrolina AEK Larnaca added Giorgi Bezhanishvili, a fellow league newcomer. The 26-year-old forward/center strengthens a bid to join AEK, VEF Riga, and NHSZ-Szolnoki Olajbanyasz in Group F through another Qualification tournament.
Another team on the champions path of the Qualifiers and first-round opponent of the Larnaca outfit, Patrioti Levice, boosted the roster with 23-year-old Gabe Dorsey on Sunday, a former NCAA guard with William & Mary and Vanderbilt.
On Saturday, Kalev/Cramo re-signed 34-year-old captain Martin Dorbek and also signed 22-year-old Tyson Acuff to complete the roster for the next season. The Estonian side is in the same group as the Cypriot and Slovakian clubs.
Three eight-team tournaments will be held in Samokov from September 19 to 25. The Regular Season tip-off follows on October 7.
Photo Credit: FIBA
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