Another young acquisition for Cedevita.
Young basketball player Ivica Zubac has terminated his contract with Cibona and has immediately signed a new three-and-a-half-year contract with Cedevita. This just continues the existing trend of Cedevita buying almost all good players in Croatian basketball, reports Index.hr on January 7, 2016.
"As soon as we heard about the termination of contract, we immediately reacted and managed to bring one of the most talented young centres of Europe to our team", said Davor Užbinec, director of Cedevita. "If we did not react, Zubac would go to some European club and the Croatian audiences would be deprived of performances of a player who will do great things in his career. In this way, he will stay in Croatia, play at the highest level and hopefully win trophies. We have a long-term strategy of creating a strong club with young Croatian players and players from the region. It has been agreed that Zubac can go to the NBA as soon as this summer, but I am sure that he will make great progress with us and will stay with Cedevita for much longer."
Cedevita team manager Matej Mamić was also pleased. "Zubac is a player who will give us a lot. He is another jewel needed to create a great team for the future. He will not be able to play in the regional ABA league this season, so we will prepare him for the second part of the Euroleague Top 16 competition. I believe he will fit in with the rest of the players very quickly because he is very talented."
Cedevita will officially present Zubac at a news conference on Friday, after the team and coach Mršić return from a game in Istanbul.
In a press release, Cibona accused Cedevita of trying to destabilize the club. "Cibona is surprised by the decision of Ivica Zubac to terminate his contract with Cibona. His decision was allegedly based on the fact that he was not satisfied with his status in the team, although he played a lot and was the best player in several recent matches. Also, we are surprised with Cedevita, which in this way wants to destabilize our club and recruit our young players, since Ivica Zubac is the third young talented player who was persuaded to leave Cibona", reads the press statement from Cibona.
