Frank Kaminsky Signs for Serbian and European Powerhouse Partizan Belgrade

The former No.9 pick at the 2015 NBA draft and an 8-year NBA veteran Frank Kaminsky signed a one-year deal with the Serbian powerhouse, Partizan Belgrade.

We’ve seen a trend of experienced NBA players going to Europe and deciding to play in the EuroLeague reaching new heights this year. After Kemba Walker, Jabari Parker, Willie Cauley-Stein, Ben McLemore, Jahil Okafor, Juancho Hernangomez, and many others, Frank Kaminsky decided to move overseas.

The former Hornets, Suns, Hawks, and Rockets big man decided to sign for Partizan Belgrade, the former European champions and one of the most notable clubs in Europe. 

Excited for this next challenge. Going to be an amazing year!! 🖤🤍 https://t.co/6r4ZHYPcpV

— Frank Kaminsky III (@FSKPart3) August 17, 2023

Kaminsky will work under head coach Zeljko Obradovic a nine-time EuroLeague champion, who is one of the best coaches of all time, and according to Gregg Popovich one of the guys who influenced his and NBA basketball in various ways.

Kaminsky signed a one-year deal with Partizan, hoping to follow the footsteps of another big NBA talent, Dante Exum, who revived his career in Belgrade and returned to the NBA following one season in Partizan, signing for the Dallas Mavericks this summer. 

The seven-footer born in Illinois was once considered one of the biggest talents in US basketball. He played for the Wisconsin Badgers during college, earning the National college player of the Year honors in 2015, and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award.  

Later on, Kaminsky was drafted by the Charlotte Hornets, playing there for four years, before moving to Phoenix Suns, where he spent three more seasons. He suffered a knee injury that prevented him from playing more than nine games in the 2021/2022 campaign, after which he left for Atlanta Hawks. The big fella was traded to the Houston Rockets in February this year, where he didn’t play too much. 

In eight years spent in the NBA, Kaminsky played 413 games, averaging 8.8 points, 3.8 boards and 19.8 minutes played. His stats significantly dropped in the previous years, due to injury problems. 

On the other side, Partizan was one of the teams that shook Europe last season, having a very good campaign and reaching the playoffs, where they controversially lost to Real Madrid after one odd series. The big brawl in Madrid, with Partizan leading 2-0, saw some of the key players in Blegrade’s team being suspended – Kevin Punter and Mathias Lessort. After that, Real came back eliminated Partizan, and eventually won the EuroLeague.

The Grobari were in the middle of attention this summer, as they were supposed to sing the former Chicago Bulls and New Orleans Pelicans star, Nikola Mirotic, but were prevented under suspicious and strange circumstances. 

Mirotic, one of the best players in Europe, issued a statement saying that he decided to move on from Partizan due to threats coming from various sides. After that, the media in Serbia reported that the Spanish player of Montenegrin origins had to deal with diverse problems caused by Partizan’s big rivals Red Star Belgrade and the government who favors Red Star. According to the media in Serbia and Europe, President Aleksandar Vucic is a big supporter of Red Star and helps them. He even halted Mirotic’s signature for the former European champions, all in order of giving Red Star an advantage. The same media claims that the regime in Serbia openly supports Red Star and tries to shut down Partizan. 

Kaminsky comes to Partizan as the replacement for Mirotic and will try to lead the former European champions to the new EuroLeague title. He is the second signing for Partizan from NBA, after PJ Dozier also moved to Belgrade.