Davis Bertans terminates contract with European club
Some surprising news out of Europe. Davis Bertans’ agent, Arturs Kalnitis, announced that Bertans terminated his contract with KK Partizan Belgrade. Bertans, a 2011 second round selection by the Spurs, spent the last two seasons with Partizan and helped them win two Serbian League titles.
There isn’t a ton of information available about the parting of ways. Bertans had one year left on his deal and Kalnitis told me via email that nothing happened between the two sides, but he Bertans decided they are “making the next move.” He did not elaborate what that meant moving forward. Bertans is a free agent and while that would sound like an opportune time to sign with the San Antonio Spurs. Two problems with that. First, assuming most or all of their free agents are brought back, the Spurs roster is near full capacity. Even signing Bertans to a contract and then sending him to the D-League would take up a roster spot. Second, while Bertans played really well in returning from ACL surgery last season, he could probably use another year of seasoning in Europe. He’s still a little slight to guard power forwards and his lateral quickness is still a question mark. There’s a slight chance he could join the Spurs for Summer League, the full roster isn’t out, but that’d be a risky thing to do with no contract.
So he’s likely to stay in Europe for a year or two. It was reported earlier this week that Turkish club Galatasaray, but his buyout was too large. So that might be at the root of his decision terminate his current deal. Now that the buyout isn’t an issue, Galatsaray could be a destination. Eurobasket.com and Sportando contributor David Pick also reports that KK Cedevita, which is also in the Adriatic League, is likely to reach out to Bertans. This is a surprising turn of events, but likely doesn’t change the long term plan for Bertans and the Spurs. We’ll keep you posted on where he lands.
