Serbian basketball player Nemanja Bjelica is no longer a member of Fenerbahce, officially announced the club from Istanbul.
Bjelica arrived in Turkey at the beginning of the previous season but failed to establish himself. He missed almost the entire year due to injury, and it is now evident that he is no longer in Dimitris Itoudis’s plans.
“We have parted ways with our player Nemanja Bjelica, who was part of the Fenerbahce team for the 2022-23 season and wore our jersey in previous years between the 2013-2015 seasons. We thank him for his contribution to the Fenerbahce family and wish him success in the new phase of his career,” the statement from the Turkish club reads.
This was Bjelica’s second stint with Fenerbahce. In his previous tenure with the “Yellow Canaries,” he won the MVP award in the EuroLeague.
Afterward, he ventured into the NBA. He first played for the Minnesota Timberwolves, then moved to the Sacramento Kings. He then had stints with the Miami Heat and the Golden State Warriors, with whom he won an NBA championship before returning to the Old Continent.
He began his professional career in Austria, followed by a stint with Crvena Zvezda. Afterward, he played for Baskonia, where he established himself as one of the best players in his position in Europe.
With the Serbian national team, he won silver at the European Championship in 2009 and the FIBA Basketball World Cup in 2014.