Pieno Zvaigzdes surprised everyone in Lithuania by agreeing terms with Brazilian big man Paulo Prestes (210 cm, 118 kg), who spent the majority of his career in Spain, representing notable teams like Unicaja, Murcia and Granada.
Basketball agent Marcelo Maffia informed LithuaniaBasketball.com that the 24-year-old Prestes will sign a contract for the remainder of the season after undergoing a medical examination on Wednesday.
The player missed the first half of the season due to a small knee surgery to clean the meniscus and has already been practising with Malaga LEB team at full speed the last three weeks.
In April of 2010, the center suffered a nasty
ankle injury, which ended the player’s season, but it didn’t prevent Prestes
from being selected with the 45th overall pick in the second round
of the 2010 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
However, the big man didn’t make the final
roster and spent the last season with Granada, where he averaged 7.3 points and
5.3 rebounds in the Spanish ACB.
Prestes was amongst the best players in the
2007 FIBA U19 World Championship, averaging tournament-highs of 23 points and
14.7 rebounds per game, as Brazil finished fourth after losing to France in the
bronze-medal game.
The Lithuanian League (LKL) debutants from
Pasvalys currently rank fifth in the domestic league and have also qualified to
the Final Four of the Lithuanian Cup for the first time in the team’s history.
The player's highlights:
