Zalgiris Kaunas has announced that Brady Manek has joined the club on a one-year contract with an option for a second season. Manek (2.06 meters, 24 years old) arrives from Tofas Bursa, where he played the tail end of last season. He averaged 15.4 points and 5.9 rebounds in 13 Turkish League games. Manek began his professional career in Australia with the Perth Wildcats. He was worth 13.1 points and 5.3 rebounds in 30 appearances in Australia, too. The American forward will make his Turkish Airlines EuroLeague debut in the 2023-24 season.
Zalgiris confirms the signing of Brady Manek
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Making a name in college
Manek played college basketball at the University of Oklahoma and the University of North Carolina prior to turning professional. At Oklahoma, he became a star and impressed in all four of his years there. In the 2017-18 season, he posted 10.2 points and 5.2 rebounds in 32 games. He swelled those numbers to 12.2 points and 5.9 rebounds across 34 appearances in 2018-19, before earning Third Team All-Big 12 honors in 2020 after averaging 14.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 31 contests. In his final year at Oklahoma, Manek averaged 10.9 points and 5.0 rebounds in 25 games.
In the summer of 2021, Manek took the decision to transfer to North Carolina. There, he had his best scoring season to date, averaging 15.1 points and 6.1 rebounds in 39 appearances. In particular, he is remembered by North Carolina fans for his 28-point outing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Marquette University. North Carolina was eliminated in the second round, but in April 2022, Manek was named as the winner of the Riley Wallace Player of the Year Award, which is given to the top transfer player in college basketball.
Manek will be hoping to not only find a home at Zalgiris but remind the world what he is capable of as he embarks upon a new journey in the EuroLeague.