Moneke moves to NBA as Sacramento Kings snap up Manresa player
Nigerian power forward Chima Moneke has achieved his goal of going to the NBA, having been signed by the Sacramento Kings. He leaves Manresa after a season.
Chima Moneke’s dream has come true. The player will go to the NBA. He has just been signed by the Sacramento Kings for next season. This was first revealed by Sean Cunningham of FOX, but the details of the contract are still unknown. The 26-year-old Nigerian receives this opportunity after training in the United States and excelling in European basketball in recent years.
Moneke named MVP in FIBA Champions League
Moneke joins the Kings from Baxi Manresa, the team at which he made his breakthrough in the 2021/22 season. With Manresa, he was the MVP of the FIBA Champions League, averaging 13.3 points and 6.1 rebounds, and was close to winning the award in Spain’s Liga Endesa, losing out to Dzanan Musa despite registering 14.5 points and 8.2 rebounds. Moneke had the option to extend his stay at Manresa, as well as an exit clause, and has finally opted to trigger the latter after getting the call from the NBA. It will be his first experience in the North American league.
Player knows Sacramento coaches well
Moneke can be expected to settle in well at the Kings, because head coach Mike Brown and his assistant, the Spaniard Jordi Fernández, had him in their ranks last summer when they in charge of the Nigerian team at the postponed Tokyo Olympics. However, the power forward was left out of the final roster after being involved in the Nigerians’ warm-ups for the Games. The relationship between the bench and the player does not end there: Pedro Martínez, his coach at Manresa last season, was with the Kings at the beginning of this month to learn first-hand how the franchise worked, so it is foreseeable that there was a recommendation on his part.
Kings go for Moneke after Vezenkov talks fail
For the Kings, Moneke’s arrival means another potential recruit won’t be joining. The franchise had tried to bring in Sasha Vezenkov after obtaining his rights for the competition and after his good work with Olympiacos in the EuroLeague, which led him to be named in the tournament’s ideal starting five in 2021/22. However, talks have not come to fruition and the Bulgarian international power forward will remain in Europe for at least one more year. That has paved the way for Moneke to move to Sacramento.