Calathes deja el Barça y ficha por el Fenerbahce

After two years as the team's undisputed starting point guard, Nick Calathes leaves Barça and goes to Fenerbahçe, who confirmed his signing for two years on Tuesday.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
23 August 2022 Tuesday 06:34
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Calathes deja el Barça y ficha por el Fenerbahce

After two years as the team's undisputed starting point guard, Nick Calathes leaves Barça and goes to Fenerbahçe, who confirmed his signing for two years on Tuesday. The 33-year-old Greek-American, who had one of the highest chips, has reached an agreement with the Catalan club for the termination of the remaining year of his contract.

This summer Tomas Satoranski returned to the Barça club, joining Rokas Jokubaitis and even Nicolás Laprovittola, normally a shooting guard, in the point guard position. The arrival of the Czech was an invitation for the departure of Calathes, whose poor performance in the disappointing end of last season put him on the starting ramp.

The all-time top assistant in the EuroLeague, with a total of 1,711, has been a fundamental piece in Sarunas Jasikevicius' schemes since the coach's arrival in the 2020-21 season. In fact, the Lithuanian's first signing was Calathes, whom he had already had as a teammate during their stage at Panathinaikos, where they alternated point guard positions.

In this way, Calathes, who leaves after winning a League and two Copas del Rey, becomes the fourth exit of the Barça team after those of Nigel Hayes-Davis, Brandon Davies and Rolands Smits at the beginning of the summer. The next to leave could be Pierre Oriola. Regarding signings, Barça has been reinforced with Jan Vesely, Oscar da Silva, Nikola Kalinic, Mike Tobey, Oriol Paulí and the aforementioned Satoranski.

For its part, Fenerbahçe underpins the project of coach Dimitrios Itoudis, also the Greece coach who is currently preparing for the Eurobasket with his players, including Calathes. The Turks, current league champions, want to fight again for the Euroleague, won the last two years by Anadolu Efes, also from Istanbul.

The Ottomans have described Calathes as "one of the best point guards in Europe" and highlight his long and successful career in the old continent, in addition to his time with the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies. Fenerbahçe will be his fourth European team after wearing the Panathinaikos shirts, in two stages, that of Lokomotiv Kuban and the azulgrana.