{"id":855094,"date":"2026-08-14T15:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T15:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/855094\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T15:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T15:26:10","slug":"euroleague-bound-fatts-russell-inks-a-deal-with-efes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/855094\/","title":{"rendered":"EuroLeague bound Fatts Russell inks a deal with Efes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Johnny Askounis\/<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurohoops.net\/en\/euroleague\/1998613\/daron-russell-to-efes-euroleague\/maillot:info@eurohops.net\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> info@eurohoops.net<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurohoops.net\/basket\/anadolu-efes\/?lang=en\" title=\"Anadolu Efes\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"auto-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Anadolu Efes<\/a> has officially strengthened its backcourt for the upcoming 2026\u201327 season by securing the signature of explosive point guard Daron Russell.<\/p>\n<p>Fatts steps up to Europe\u2019s premier club competition following a spectacular campaign with Romanian powerhouse U-BT Cluj-Napoca. Over 19 BKT EuroCup appearances last season, 28-year-old Russell asserted himself as one of the continent\u2019s most lethal offensive weapons, leading the entire league in scoring with an average of 19.8 points per game, alongside 6.2 assists, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.4 steals. His dominant performances earned him <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurohoops.net\/en\/eurocup\/1955886\/all%e2%80%91eurocup-first-team-honors-the-stars-of-2025-26-eurocup\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a spot on the All-EuroCup Second Team<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>His magnificent year in Romania extended far beyond continental play, as he guided Cluj-Napoca to a domestic treble. His success also translated to the international stage, where <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurohoops.net\/en\/fibawc\/1877633\/fatts-russell-becomes-naturalized-player-for-romania-fiba\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">he debuted for the senior national team of Romania as a naturalized player<\/a>, appearing in six FIBA World Cup 2027 Qualifiers.<\/p>\n<p>Before conquering Romania, the Philadelphia native built a formidable reputation across the European landscape. After concluding a standout collegiate career spent at Rhode Island and Maryland, he went undrafted in 2022 and launched his professional journey in Montenegro with Mornar-Barsko zlato. He immediately made history, shattering the AdmiralBet ABA League single-game scoring record with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurohoops.net\/en\/aba\/1401886\/fatts-russell-sets-new-all-time-aba-record-with-47-points-in-win\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a 47-point masterclass<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Moving to Turkiye, he gained vital experience across 14 Basketball Champions League games and nine FIBA Europe Cup matches during impactful stints with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurohoops.net\/basket\/galatasaray\/?lang=tr\" title=\"Galatasaray\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"auto-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Galatasaray<\/a> Nef, Manisa, and Karsiyaka. Now entering his prime, Russell arrives at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurohoops.net\/basket\/anadolu-efes\/?lang=en\" title=\"Efes\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"auto-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Efes<\/a> ready to make his mark on the EuroLeague stage.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"tr\">\ud83d\udc99 Welcome to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurohoops.net\/basket\/anadolu-efes\/?lang=tr#\" title=\"Anadolu Efes\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"auto-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Anadolu Efes<\/a>, Daron \u201cFatts\u201d Russell!<\/p>\n<p>\ud83e\udd29 Ge\u00e7ti\u011fimiz sezon U-BT Cluj-Napoca formas\u0131yla EuroCup Say\u0131 Kral\u0131 olan ve tak\u0131m\u0131yla Romanya Ligi \u015fampiyonlu\u011funa uzan\u0131rken final serisinin MVP\u2019si se\u00e7ilen Daron \u201cFatts\u201d Russell, 2026-2027 sezonunda tak\u0131m\u0131m\u0131z i\u00e7in m\u00fccadele\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7HNp2pA27X\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/7HNp2pA27X<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurohoops.net\/basket\/anadolu-efes\/?lang=tr#\" title=\"Anadolu Efes\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"auto-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Anadolu Efes<\/a> SK (@AnadoluEfesSK) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AnadoluEfesSK\/status\/2088187118312890529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">August 14, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Istanbul outfit has previously welcomed Bruno Fernando, Mike James, Collin Malcolm, Dario Saric, Matthew Strazel, and Santi Yusta during the offseason, while Jordan Loyd, Isaia Cordinier, PJ Dozier Jr., David Mutaf, Burak Can Yildizli, Erkan Yilmaz, Ercan Osmani, Giorgos Papagiannis, and Kai Jones remain on the roster for Pablo Laso\u2019s side.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurohoops.net\/latest-news\/?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Read the latest News<\/a><\/p>\n<p>    <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Johnny Askounis\/ info@eurohoops.net Anadolu Efes has officially strengthened its backcourt for the upcoming 2026\u201327 season by securing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":855095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-855094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}