Mikael Hopkins two more seasons at Cedevita Olimpija

Wednesday, 01. July 2020 at 10:28

Cedevita Olimpija and Mikael Hopkins have reached an agreement, and American Power Forward will be staying in Ljubljana for two more seasons.

Mikael Hopkins (Photo: Cedevita Olimpija/Ales Fevzer)

Mikael Hopkins joined Cedevita Olimpija in the summer 2019, and Ljubljana’s basketball fans will get the chance, to watch him in the Dragons’ jersey for the next two season.

Mikael Hopkins has played in 21 ABA League games in the 2019/20 season. In the regional scene, he averaged 9.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 0.6 assists and 0.9 blocks in 21.0 minutes of play.

Mikael Hopkins attended DeMath high school in the USA and the elite Georgetown College. He appeared 128 times for the University, averaging 4.9 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. He began his international career at Turkish side Istanbul and moved to Samsun after a season spent in the biggest Turkish city.

He introduced himself to the European basketball fans in the 2018/19 season, when he put on Balkan jersey and joined forces with another former Dragon, Mirko Mulalić. Hopkins’ good performances earned him the award for the best forward in FIBA Europe Cup and it was also the biggest reason why Balkan managed to qualify for the Playoffs of the competition. Hopkins averaged 14.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.1 blocks per game and became the best shot blocker of the competition. With the valuation of 19.4 he was the third most efficient in this category and at the same time fourth best rebounder of the competition.

As he has extended his cooperation with Cedevita Olimpija, Mikael Hopkins stated: “I am very happy, that I will be wearing Cedevita Olimpija's jersey for two more season. We have a new season, full of challenges, ahead of us. I can't wait to get together with my teammates again, and to get back to work.”

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V Ljubljani ostaja tudi Mikael Hopkins

Cedevita Olimpija se je z ameriškim krilnim centrom Mikaelom Hopkinsom uspela dogovoriti o podaljšanju pogodbe za prihajajoči dve tekmovalni sezoni.

V Ljubljani ostaja še eden izmed nosilcev moštva Cedevite Olimpije iz tekmovalne sezone 2019/20. Ameriški krilni center Mikael Hopkins, ki se je v slovensko prestolnico preselil lansko poletje, je s klubom iz Stožic podpisal novo dveletno pogodbo. Ljubljenec ljubljanskega občinstva bo tako še naprej navduševal navijače v Areni Stožice.

Mikael Hopkins je v sezoni 2019/20 zaigral na 21 tekmah Lige ABA. Na regionalni sceni je v 21,0 minutah igre v povprečju dosegal 9,2 točki, 4,7 skoke, 0,6 podaje in 0,9 blokade na obračun.

V Združenih državah Amerike je Mikael Hopkins obiskoval srednjo šolo DeMatha ter elitni kolidž Georgetown. Za slednjega je v štirih sezonah zaigral na 128 tekmah in v povprečju dosegal 4,9 točke in 3,8 skoka na tekmo. Mednarodno kariero je začel pri turškem Istanbulu, po eni sezoni igranja v Carigradu pa se je za dve sezoni preselil v Samsun.

Evropski košarkarski javnosti je Mikael Hopkins postal znan v tekmovalni sezoni 2018/19, v kateri je nosil dres bolgarskega Balkana in bil soigralec še enega nekdanjega Zmaja, Mirka Mulalića, s katerim bo združil moči tudi v novi sezoni. Hopkinsove dobre predstave so mu prislužile nagrado za najboljšega krilnega košarkarja v Fibinem Europe Cupu, bil pa je tudi največji razlog, da se je Balkanu uspelo prebiti v končnico tega evropskega tekmovanja. Hopkins je v povprečju dosegal 14,7 točke, 8,3 skoke, 2,4 podaje in 2,1 blokade na tekmo, s tem izkupičkom pa je bil tudi najboljši bloker tekmovanja. Z valorizacijskim indeksom 19,4 je bil tretji najboljši v tej statistični kategoriji, hkrati pa je bil četrti najboljši skakalec tekmovanja.

Ob podaljšanju sodelovanja z Zmaji je Hopkins dejal: „Zelo zadovoljen sem, da bom dres Cedevite Olimpije nosil še prihodnji dve sezoni. Pred nami je nova tekmovalna sezona, polna zahtevnih preizkušenj. Komaj čakam, da se s soigralci znova zberemo, in začnemo delati.“

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