Report: Baskonia pay Markus Howard €2M to leave for half the salary at Zenit

By the Data Desk · Published 21 OCT 05:40

First reported by El Correo (Iván Benito, Carlos Pérez de Arrilucea) · 19 OCT 23:43

Two years ago Markus Howard won the EuroLeague scoring title for Baskonia; this month the club is paying him to play somewhere else. According to El Correo, Baskonia will pay Howard about €2 million, in instalments, to end a contract that ran to 2028, because Zenit St Petersburg will pay him only about €1 million a year.

• El Correo says the €2 million is only part of what was left on his contract, this season and next; the payments are spread over a calendar agreed with the player, who waived immediate payment.
• Howard signed for Zenit for two seasons as a free agent, so the move is neither a transfer nor a loan, and Baskonia receive no fee.
• On the court the fall was steep: 19.5 points a game and the Alphonso Ford Trophy in 2023-24, 4.7 points in 10.4 minutes over three EuroLeague games this season.

The report came out just after midnight on Tuesday, Spanish time. «Según ha podido confirmar este periódico, el club vitoriano pagará al escolta estadounidense alrededor de dos millones de euros», El Correo wrote: by its account, the club will pay the American guard around two million euros. The paper says Zenit's salary is close to half of what he was due in Vitoria, and that Baskonia carry the rest. Neither the club nor the player has confirmed the figures.

Behind the scenes, El Correo describes an exit with an economic root. The club had been open to his exit long before it thought about sacking Galbiati, and it hoped to get a fee, but his small role in recent months, when he was left out of Liga Endesa games, cut his market price. Howard had turned down other offers from Europe and China in past seasons. Without the interest of Zenit, now coached by Dusko Ivanovic, the paper says he might still be in Vitoria.

Howard's last Baskonia contract was signed in spring 2024, an extension to 2028 after his record season: 759 points and 148 threes, both EuroLeague single-season records (EuroLeague, Eurohoops). In February he was part of the squad that beat Real Madrid 100-89 in the Copa del Rey final, scoring six points off the bench (Eurohoops). His last EuroLeague game for the club was on 2 October against Milan, and he did not score.

The team has not found points since. In the three EuroLeague games Howard played, Baskonia scored 87.7 a game; in the three since, 80.3, and they still concede 94.0, the second-worst mark in the league (EuroLeague box scores). What happens next: Panathinaikos v Baskonia at the Telekom Center Athens on Thursday, 22 October, at 18:15 UTC.