By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
After a recent link to Anadolu Efes, Brice Dessert inked a four-year contract to officially join the Istanbul outfit on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old French forward/center is set to debut in European club continental competitions, directly in the EuroLeague. He will also expand his career beyond his home country for the first time, following stints with SIG Strasbourg, ADA Blois, and RMB. Playing for Strasbourg in 27 games across all competitions in France last season, he tallied 9.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per contest.
At the international level, he received an upgrade to the senior squad of France during the Qualifiers of the EuroBasket 2025. He previously captured silver medals in the FIBA U19 World Cup 2021 and FIBA U16 European Championship 2019, and also featured in the FIBA U20 European Championship 2022.
Preparing for the 2025-26 installments of the EuroLeague and domestic competitions in Turkiye, Efes already added Isaia Cordinier, Sehmus Hazer, David Mutaf, Giorgos Papagiannis, and Nick Weiler-Babb during the offseason, besides naming Igor Kokoskov as the new head coach. Other players under contract are Rodrigue Beaubois, PJ Dozier, Shane Larkin, Ercan Osmani, Vincent Poirier, Rolands Smits, Burak Can Yildizli, and Erkan Yilmaz.
Opening the new continental schedule, the Round 1 opponent is Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv in Istanbul’s Basketball Development Center on September 30. The 2024-25 journey finished at the hands of Panathinaikos Aktor in a deciding Game 5 of the Playoffs in Athens, after ranking sixth in the Regular Season.
Photo Credit: FIBA