By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
On the heels of the solid showing in 2022 EuroBasket, Thomas Heurtel finally removed himself from the list of free agents still available and joined VTB United League champion Zenit.
Heurtel, 33, penned a contract for the next season with an option for an additional season, the team based in Saint Petersburg announced Wednesday.
France ranking second in the most recent edition of EuroBasket can be considered a success for the team coached by Vincent Collet. In his own fair share, the experienced floor general chipped in 10.4 points, 7.1 assists, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game over nine appearances from Cologne across to Berlin, Germany.
Before the tournament, Heurtel signed the document delivered by the French Federation of Basketball concerning players or coaches with ties to Russia or Belarus. “I signed the document,” he had confirmed and also signaled a future move to Russia, “My agents are in contact with clubs, Russian clubs in particular if you want to know.”
At the club level, he last played for Real Madrid with the 2021-22 season coming to an abrupt end, despite being officially released from the Spanish powerhouse in late June. He was heading to the exit in April due to disciplinary reasons. In the 11th Turkish Airlines EuroLeague campaign of his career, he averaged 9.0 points, 4.6 assists, 2.4 rebounds, and 0.6 steals per contest over 27 appearances, including 14 starts.
Shifting to the team coached by Xavi Pascual, Heurtel will miss EuroLeague action for the first time since his debut in the 2011-12 season. Instead, VTB and Russian domestic competitions are the focus for Zenit. Russian teams have been excluded from Europe’s premier club continental competition since the country’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing war. The same goes for the remaining continental and international competitions moving forward without teams from Russia.
Over the offseason, Vitaly Fridzon, Caleb Homesley, Sergey Karasev, Artem Klimenko, Dmitry Kulagin, Richard Solomon, Joe Thomasson, Trey Thompkins, Sergey Toropov, Igor Volkhin, Thomas Wimbush, Denis Zakharov, and captain Andrey Zubkov have been confirmed on Zenit’s 2022-23 squad.
“We want to welcome Thomas to our team. He is a player with great quality and experience,” said Pascual commenting on the latest signing, “We believe that he will help us achieve our goals for this season.”
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL