Krka pen deal with Gani Lawal

It is official! Krka announced that they have signed a contract with Nigerian/American center Gani Lawal! This 30-year old player has changed many clubs during his pro career. Lawal was drafted by the Phoenix Suns with the 46th overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, however an injury prevented him of showing his full potential in the NBA. One year later he went overseas to start his European campaign. Over the years he has played for numerous well-known European clubs including Virtus Roma, Emporio Armani, Panathinaikos, Dinamo Sassari…

He won the 2014 Italian Championship with Emporio Armani and he won the 2015 Greek Cup with Panathinaikos.

“I am delighted to join such good team as Krka is. I can hardly wait to meet my new teammates and the coaching staff. Playing in ABA League has always been a big goal of mine and having in mind how good the league will be in the following season this is like a dream come true. I will work hard to justify the trust the club has put into me. Both me and my wife are really looking forward to see the beautiful country of Slovenia,” said Lawal.

In the previous season Gani Lawal played for the Japanese side Shiga Lakestars where he averaged 21 points and 12 rebounds per game.

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Nov center Krke je Gani Lawal

Pri Krki so se okrepili še na položaju centra. Novinec v novomeškem moštvu je 30-letni in 206 cm visoki Američan nigerijskih korenin Gani Oladimeji Lawal. Študiral je na univerzi Georgia Tech, leta 2010 pa so ga na NBA naboru izbrali Phoenix Suns, za katere pa je zaigral samo enkrat.

V sezoni 2011/12 se je prvič podal v Evropo, nato pa igral za številne evropske (Zielona Gora, Choral de Roanne, Virtus Roma, VEF Riga, Trabzonspor, Sassari, Cantu, Karesi Spor) in azijske klube ter klube iz ameriške razvojne lige.

"Nadušen sem, da se bom pridružil tako dobremu klubu, kot je Krka. Komaj čakam, da bom spoznal svoje nove soigralce, osebje in trenerje. Tekmovanje v ABA ligi je bil vedno moj cilj in glede na letošnjo konkurenco je to, kot da bi se mi uresničile sanje. Trdo bom delal in dal vse od sebe,  da bom upravičil zaupanje vodstva kluba. Sicer pa oba z ženo komaj čakava, da vidiva prelepo Slovenijo!" je ob sklenitvi sodelovanja sporočil Lawal.

Z dvema kluboma je igral tudi v Evroligi: z milanskim Emporio Armani v sezonah 2013/14 in 2015/16, s Panathinaikosom pa v sezoni 2014/15. Z Milančani je 2014 osvojil tudi naslov italijanskih prvakov, s Panathinaikosom v 2015 pa grški pokal. Leta 2013 je za reprezentanco Nigerije igral na afriškem prvenstvu. V lanski sezoni je igral za Shiga Lakestar v japonski ligi in v povprečju dosegal 21 točk in 12 skokov na tekmo.

Simon Petrov, trener Krke: "Zelo sem zadovoljen, da  je klubu uspelo skleniti pogodbo z Lawalom. S tem smo zapolnili tudi mesto centra. Lawal je zelo izkušen igralec in v igri zelo dobro izkorišča svoje fizične prednosti. Z njim in s celotnim moštvom bomo letos igrali hitrejšo košarko."