By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The Greek League Finals between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos start on Friday (29/5), however, one key player of Olympiacos will be out of action and essentially moving out of Greece, with Lithuania being his new home.
Nigel Williams-Goss was replaced due to injury by Lucas Vildoza in the active roster, and he has already played his last game with Olympiacos.
“I missed the 11 days leading up to the Final Four… I was doing treatments twice a day with our team staff plus my own therapy in order to play. I had one practice, when we landed in Abu Dhabi – gave what I could in the game but made my injury worse. I now have an injury that needs three weeks to heal. As always, I will support my brothers and coaching staff to finish what we set out to do and win the Greek Championship“, Williams-Goss explained on social media.
The former EuroLeague champion with Real Madrid is moving to Zalgiris Kaunas on a three-year deal (2+1), which will make him the highest-paid player in the history of the club with a total compensation of nearly 4M euros net.
As Chema De Lucas had revealed on the 13th of May, Goss was the prime target of Zalgiris and essentially was off the market. His side already had a deal in place with the Lithuanian club and was also waiting for an offer from Olympiacos, since his contract expires this summer.
Olympiacos was aware of the negotiations with Zalgiris and also of the fact that the player would like to stay in Piraeus even for a slightly worse financial offer; however, after the failure in the Abu Dhabi Final Four, it was obvious that this offer would not come.
After two years with the Greek club, Goss is leaving, having won the 2024 Greek Cup.