Ignas Brazdeikis is moving on from the Orlando Magic after being with the organization for more than a year.
Brzedeikis, who was on a two-way deal with Magic during the 2021-22 season, has signed a contract with Zalgiris Kaunas of the Lithuanian Basketball League and Euroleague, the team announced on Sunday.
He signed a two-year deal with a substitute for a second season, said Zalgiris Kaunas.
Brzedekis was an unrestricted free agent this off-season after the Magic did not offer him a two-way qualifying offer before free agency began on July 1.
For Brzedeikis, signing with Zalgiris Kaunas will be a homecoming. He was born in Kaunas, Lithuania, but his family moved to Chicago when he was a child, before settling in Ontario, Canada.
After playing for the Canada national teams in youth tournaments, Brzedeikis acquired his Lithuanian citizenship in May 2021 and is playing for the Lithuania men’s national basketball team. He had previously played in the FIBA World Cup European Qualifiers in Lithuania in July.
Brzedekis played a career-high 536 minutes in 42 games last season on a two-way contract with the Magic.
His season-long average was 5.1 points and 1.7 rebounds in 12.8 minutes, including 10.3 points (46.7% shooting) in his last 12 games and 2.9 rebounds in 23 minutes.
Brzedekis originally joined Magic on a 10-day contract on May 2, 2021, before signing with the team for the rest of the season.
He averaged 11.1 points (shooting 40.7% on 3s), 5.1 rebounds and 2 assists in his final eight games of 2020-21 and signed a two-way deal last summer.
Brzedekis was picked out of Michigan by the Sacramento Kings in the second round (47th overall) of the 2019 Draft before playing a combined 14 NBA games with the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers before joining the Magic at the end of the 2020-21 season was.
Introduced during the 2017–18 season, two-way contracts are deals targeted for development, in which players move back and forth between a franchise’s NBA team and a G League affiliate. Each team can sign a pair of players for two-way deals.
The Magic have one two-way roster slot left after Admiral Scofield signed his two-way qualifying offer with the Magic on Friday.
Two-way players have the regular season once again to be on the NBA team’s active roster in 2022–23, after the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association eliminated that limit in 2021–22 due to teams by the NBA and National Basketball Players Association. There will be a 50-game limit. COVID-19 outbreak.
This article first appeared on orlandosentinel.com, email at cost [email protected] or follow him on twitter @khobi_price,
,
