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After failing to land a contract with an NBA team this summer, Russ Smith has signed on to play the upcoming season for Galatasaray Odeabank, a professional team based in Istanbul, Turkey. The official announcement of the signing is expected to be made tomorrow.
Yeni oyun kurucu transferimiz hayırlı olsun. Resmi açıklama Galatasaray resmi sitesinden yarın yapılacak.
— Omer Yalcinkaya (@dky1996) July 26, 2016
Just trust me, that's what's being talked about here.
Galatasaray is the reigning EuroCup champion, and finished third in the most recent season of the Turkish Basketball Super League. Swear to god that's what it's called.
As confusing and disappointing as Russ' inability to stick with a team in the NBA is, it appears as though he's going to be making $850,000 to play basketball this year, so we probably shouldn't be losing any sleep over this.
My favorite thing about this news is that if you Twitter search "Russ Smith" right now, you get hundreds of tweets in Turkish, most of which are either centered around his 65-point performance last season in the D-League or ... wait for it ... Mr. Quackers, his famous cat.
Congratulations on being the latest to receive the world's gift, Turkey. Treat him well.