Argentine basketball player Gabriel Deck signed with Real Madrid after his surprise departure from the NBA

The Argentine forward Gabriel Deck signed with Real Madrid, of the Spanish ACB League, until the end of the 2023/24 season following his surprise departure from the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA, where it was not taken into account. The player from Quimsa de Santiago del Estero passed his medical studies this morning at the Sanitas University Hospital and then closed the contract with the merengue team.

“Real Madrid CF has reached an agreement with Gabriel Deck, a forward from the Oklahoma City Thunder. The player is linked to the club for this season and the next two, until June 30, 2024,” the Spanish club announced on its Twitter account. “It’s an honor and a privilege to be here again,” said Deck.

“Tortu” Deck was at Real Madrid during the 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons, although at the end of the last one he left for the NBA with an average of 7.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists in just over 18 minutes in 83 games in the ACB League.

Deck, 26, received the news of his departure from Oklahoma on the night of Tuesday the 4th of this month, in a period in which he averaged 2.6 points in 8 minutes. He reached the highest basketball league for the end of the 2020/21 campaign, registering an acceptable job for a rookie.

Gabriel Deck during one of the few moments he managed to play in the Oklahoma City Thunder.Wesley Hitt – Getty Images North America

After 10 games played, the man from Santiago scored 8.4 points and grabbed 4 rebounds per game, with an average of 21.2 minutes on the court. In that time he has earned 5.5 million dollars, although the termination clause came from them to buy his freedom from Real Madrid.

Deck’s situation in Oklahoma proved inexplicable. In a franchise in a deep reconstruction process, Deck had no place, they gave him few opportunities, but in the tiny space they offered him, very occasionally, the Argentine showed that he was up to the competition. His numbers for those times were very good.

At the time, the situation did not go unnoticed in the specialized press of the United States. The player’s official account (@teamtortuok), started a campaign with the hashtag #FreeDeck. The journalist Rylan Stiles, very close to the franchise, answered the message that seemed to arouse some controversy. “Gabriel Deck can play basketball on the moon. It’s something I’ve said many times; I personally don’t understand the plan with Deck, but for (Deck’s) official communication page to act as if this is a parody is crazy to me (…) I don’t see the need to tweet #FreeDeck every day as if the two parties did not know that this was the agreement, ”said the chronicler.

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