Guard Kevin Punter, Barça’s target in the transfer market, renewed his contract with Partizan on Thursday; and guard Kyle Kuric signed for Zenit Saint Petersburg after ending his relationship with the Catalan club.
Hiring Punter, whose contract ended this summer, was one of the firm commitments of the Barca team after their decision to terminate the contract of power forward Nikola Mirotic and not to renew their coach, Sarunas Jasikevicius.
Although the transfer was well on track, as confirmed to EFE by Barça sources this week, the player finally decided to renew with Partizan, a club in which last year he stood out as one of the best outside scorers in the Euroleague with an average of 16 .1 points (49.1% accuracy on two-pointers and 44.3% on three-pointers).
For his part, the American guard Kyle Kuric, 34, will play the next two seasons at Zenit St. Peterburg, where he already played in 2017-18. The Russian club, led by Xavi Pascual, has announced the player’s signing on their social networks, after ending his contract with Barça.
The irregularity in performance throughout this last season presaged that his departure was the most likely in this market. Finally, the club has chosen not to renew him and the player has sought the best way out for his interests in the Russian team.
The American leaves the Barcelona club after five seasons at the club. Kuric, who will turn 34 this coming August, closes a stage at Barça where he has won three Copas del Rey and two ACB, in addition to having been chosen in recent seasons by the Euroleague General Managers as the best shooter in the competition.
In Russia he will meet Xavi Pascual on the bench and his former teammate Thomas Heurtel. The veto by the Euroleague and FIBA ??to the teams of that country due to the war in Ukraine will leave Kuric without playing European competitions.
