By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
In a major roster upgrade, Maxima Roma officially announced the marquee signing of NBA veteran playmaker Aaron Holiday on Wednesday.
Since the conclusion of his stint with the Houston Rockets, he emerged as an option for several NBA franchises during the offseason, but the American guard chose to embrace Europe by joining the newly established organization based in the Italian capital, heading to the 2026–27 Regular Season of the BKT EuroCup and Italy’s LBA UnipolSai.
The Louisiana native excelled at UCLA between 2015 and 2018, en route to being selected in the first round of the 2018 NBA Draft, presented by State Farm, by the Indiana Pacers. The younger brother of Jrue and Justin Holiday went on to build a high-level, eight-year career spanning stints with the Pacers, Washington Wizards, Phoenix Suns, Atlanta Hawks, and Rockets. Known as a complete, modern point guard, he pairs elite speed and aggressive driving with tenacious defense and remarkable perimeter precision, frequently concluding seasons with a 40%+ three-point accuracy rate.
Holiday, who has already initiated his visa process to arrive in Rome shortly, expressed his excitement about this next chapter.
“I am extremely proud to join Maxima Roma and take on my first challenge in European basketball. For me and my family, this represents an important step and an exciting opportunity, as I immediately sensed the club’s great faith and the serious ambition behind this project,” he mentioned.
“Having played at the highest level in the NBA drives me to want to bring that winning mentality, leadership, and intensity here every single day,” he added. “Competing in both the Serie A and the EuroCup offers a challenging stage, where we can build something special and fight for trophies throughout Europe. Rome is an iconic city with a passionate fan base that deserves top-level basketball. I can’t wait to start working with the coaching staff and my new teammates to define our identity, impose our pace on both ends of the court, and win games.”
Under the guidance of head coach Matteo Cotelli, he joins an impressive core that already features Brynton Lemar, Matt Ryan, Xavier Moon, Miro Bilan, Carl Wheatle, and Mirza Alibegovic.
Javante McCoy signs with Balkan Botevgrad
Elsewhere in the second tier of Euroleague Basketball, Balkan Botevgrad picked up Javante McCoy, who moves to Europe after four seasons in the G League.
“I can’t wait to get out to Bulgaria, meet everybody, meet the team, the coaches, the fans. It’s going to be a big year. I’m excited. I’m ready to get to work,” the 28-year-old combo guard expressed his excitement regarding his move to the Bulgarian champions.
Earlier in the offseason, the team appointed Bogdan Karaicic as head coach and secured Ulrich Chomche, Darnell Edge, Aleksandar Stoimenov, David Okwera, Ivan Alipiev, Nikolay Grozev, Dimitar Dimitrov, Pavlin Ivanov, Alex Ducas, and Ivan Spirov on the roster.
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