Y-Ones: Zagars, Sophomores, Super-Max, Best Offseason Deals

World Cup Highlights Arturo Zagars has officially signed with Turkish club Fenerbahce and has been loaned to Lithuanian team BC Wolves, as reported by Johnny Askunis of Eurohoops.net. A recent report suggested that was the likely outcome for Zagars, who attracted interest from the NBA due in part to his strong play for Latvia in this year’s World Cup.

Zagars averaged 12.4 points, 7.4 assists and 2.6 rebounds in 25.2 minutes per game in his eight World Cup appearances, making 48.6% of his field goals and 41.7% of his triples. The 23-year-old, who spent last season playing in Lithuania, was named to the World Cup second team.

Here are some more odds from around the basketball world:

• A panel of ESPN NBA reporters weighed in on which second-year players are the best candidates to break out in 2023/24, with Trail jackets guard Shaedon Sharpe, rockets forward Tari Easonand Hornets big man Mark Williams among those who will win votes. Mavericks guard Jaden Hardy, nuggets to the Peyton Watsonand Spurs eaves Malaki Branham were some of the players chosen to be effective under-the-radar contributors in their second NBA season.
• In an exclusive Insider story for ESPN.com, Bobby Marks takes an in-depth look at players who could be eligible for a super-max contract if they meet certain performance criteria in 2023/24, and projects what those max deals would look like. as. We published our own preview of this season’s supermax candidates last week.
• Which contracts and free agent extensions were the most favorable deals completed by teams this offseason? Spotrac’s Keith Smith identifies 10 that he believes fit that bill, including multiple signings by the Mavericks (Kyrie Irving, Seth Curry), Dollars (Chris Middleton, Brook Lopez), and Lakers (Austin Reaves, Gabe Vicente).