Free agent forward Cole Swider is close to reaching a contract agreement with the Turkish club Anadolu Efes, reports NBA insider Marc Stein (Twitter link).
Swider, who went undrafted out of Syracuse in 2022, has played in the NBA in each of his first three professional seasons. He spent a year apiece with the Lakers and Heat on two-way deals, then had stints with the Piston and Raptors in 2024/25.
Swider, 26, has seen limited action in the NBA, appearing in 35 total games and averaging just 8.5 minutes per night. He played regular NBA rotation minutes for the first time in Toronto last season, averaging 7.4 point and 3.1 rebounds in 19.5 minutes per game across eight outings for the Raptors.
The 6’8″ forward is known as an outside shooting threat. In 83 career G League games, he has knocked down an impressive 44.6% of his three-point attempts, having never made fewer than 42.9% in a single season. Swider showed off his three-point shot last month as a member of the Lakers’ Summer League team, converting 43.1% of his attempts in eight games at the California Classic and Las Vegas leagues.
Assuming Swider finalizes a deal with Anadolu Efes, he’ll be joining a club that features several former NBA players, including guards Shane Larkin and Rodrigue Beaubois, wing PJ Dozier, and big man Georgios Papagiannis. The Turkish club will also be coached in 2025/26 by Igor Kokoskov, a longtime NBA assistant who spent one year as the head coach in Phoenix in ’18/19.
Anadolu Efes went 20-14 in EuroLeague play this past season and posted a 19-7 record in Turkey’s Basketball Super League, but was eliminated by Panathinaikos in the EuroLeague playoffs and by Besiktas in the BSL semifinals.