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By Ricardo Sandoval
Contributing Sports Writer
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Former NBA veteran forward Cedi Osman will continue his professional career overseas.
Osman will leave the NBA and sign with Greek club Panathinaikos. Panathinaikos owner Dimitris Giannakopoulos announced the deal to acquire Osman.
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Osman will return overseas to complete his professional career after beginning it with Anadolu Efes, a Turkish team he played for from 2011-17.
After his stint with Efes, where he captured a Turkish Cup, a Turkish Supercup winner, a three-time BSL All-Star, and a FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship, he decided to take his talents to the NBA.
Osman played in seven NBA seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the San Antonio Spurs. Although the Minnesota Timberwolves took him in the 2015 NBA Draft with the No. 31 overall pick, Osman was traded to the Cavaliers that same night in exchange for the draft rights to Tyus Jones.
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Osman didn't begin his NBA career until the 2017-18 season when he played with the Cavaliers. In six seasons in Cleveland, he averaged 10.0 points per game, 3.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 0.7 steals while shooting 42.3 percent from the field and 34.9 percent from three. Osman averaged 24.5 minutes per game and played in 327 games with 181 starts.
His first year in Celevand happened to be superstar LeBron James' last before he signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency. Last summer, Osman was traded to the Spurs as part of a three-team trade with the Miami Heat and the Cavaliers.
In his lone season in San Antonio, he averaged 6.8 points per game, 2.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 0.5 steals while shooting 47.9 percent from the field and 38.9 percent from three in 72 games.
Earlier reports from this month suggested that he was in advanced talks with Spanish club Real Madrid, but the two sides were ultimately unable to reach a deal.
Another report said Osman allegedly turned down a training camp invitation from the Lakers to sign with Panathinaikos instead.
"He also received interest from the Los Angeles Lakers, which invited him for a training camp; however, due to the lack of guarantees about making it to the season roster, he decided to refuse and come back to Europe," wrote Nikola Miloradovic of Eurohoops.
The reasoning behind turning it down was that Osman was not guaranteed to land with the team for an active roster spot. The Lakers have all their 15 spots filled, so unless Osman played out of his mind in training camp and preseason, and/or another player were hurt, there was no guaranteed spot for him.
Osman played in 476 career games and averaged 9.3 points per game.
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