Panathinaikos OPAP Athens ensured it will have one of the most exciting backcourts in the league after it signed high-scoring guard Jimmer Fredette to a two-year deal to play alongside All-EuroLeague playmaker Nick Calathes.
Fredette (1.88 meters, 30 years old) played most of the three past seasons with the Shanghai Sharks in China. He was the CBA’s top scorer last season with 36.9 points per game and finished second to former Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz guard Darius Adams in the voting for International MVP.
Fredette was both the scoring champ (37.6 ppg.) and International MVP in his first season in China, 2016-17. After the conclusion of the CBA season, Fredette joined Phoenix of the NBA and appeared in six games.
Fredette became a national star as a college basketball player at Brigham Young University, where he was a teammate for two seasons of All-EuroLeague center Brandon Davies of FC Barcelona.
He finished his college basketball career as both the school and Mountain West Conference all-time scoring leader with 2,599 points among a slew of school records, including most points in a game (52) and season (1,068). The consensus national college basketball player of the year in 2011, Fredette was a lottery pick in the NBA by Sacramento and played parts of six NBA seasons with Sacramento, Chicago, New Orleans, New York and Phoenix.
He also played one season in the D-League for Westchester. He will make his Turkish Airlines EuroLeague debut this season with Panathinaikos.
