Former No. 6 overall pick Ekpe Udoh has signed with Turkish powerhouse Fenerbahce Ulker, the team announced (Twitter link; translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). It’s a one-year deal for in excess of $1MM with no NBA escape clause, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. News of NBA interest in the big man was scarce this summer after he saw little action with the Clippers this past season.
Udoh averaged just fractions of a point and a rebound in 3.9 minutes per game across 33 appearances on his one-year, minimum-salary deal with the Clippers. He reportedly picked the Clippers over interest from the Cavs, Bulls and Kings last year in part because he thought he’d see more playing time in L.A., but that didn’t materialize. The now 28-year-old averaged 19.1 minutes per game and made 14 starts for the 2013/14 Bucks.
He’ll have a chance to rehabilitate his NBA career with surely plenty of eyes from the league watching his team, which also includes NBA veterans Pero Antic, Gigi Datome and Jan Vesely as well as Bogdan Bogdanovic, whom the Suns drafted 27th overall last year, notes David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link). Fenerbahce will play the Nets in a preseason game this year.
Do you think Ekpe Udoh is an NBA-caliber player? Leave a comment to tell us.
Can protect the rim, and cat check and finish at the basket. Should be able to get minutes as a backup 5 for someone eventually
The Clippers probably should have used him a bit more, but the same could be said for a lot of guys on the Clippers bench last year.
Hard to believe Udoh was drafted directly ahead of Greg Monroe, Aminu, Gordon Hayward and Paul George.