Basketball | BBL: Niners Chemnitz defeat Shooting Guard Bailey – Penha leaves

After the clear defeat in the BBL opener against FC Bayern, the Niners Chemnitz have made some new personnel additions and signed shooting guard Victor Bailey. In return, CJ Penha, who was only signed in the summer, is leaving the club.

Bailey won the ProA championship with the Karlsruhe Lions last season and will replace Penha in the position of the seventh foreign player. Winger Penha only came to Chemnitz in the summer from Swedish champions Norrköping and played three of four test matches in the preseason. With Aher Uguak, Jeff Garrett, Olivier Nkamhoua, Nicholas Tischler and Roman Bedine, the Niners are already well-staffed in the forward position, and Penha also expressed his wish to terminate his contract, which the Niners agreed to.

Bailey impressed in Karlsruhe

Newcomer Bailey completed his preseason training with three-time Finnish champions Joensuun Kataja Basket. Chemnitz will be the second stop in Germany for the strong-shooting 1.93 meter tall American. Last season, the 25-year-old from Karlsruhe helped the team to the playoffs, where he excelled with an average of 17.5 points and a three-point percentage of over 50 percent in ten games. Karlsruhe won the title, but was unable to apply for a license for the BBL due to financial and structural requirements.

Debut in the Champions League?

The former college player has now signed a contract in Chemnitz until 2026 and could already be an option for the Champions League opener against Bertram Derthona Basket from Italy on October 2nd. He will watch the Bundesliga match on Sunday (September 22nd) against ratiopharm Ulm from the stands. “We (…) are convinced of his potential and will give him the time he needs to acclimatize and find his role within the team,” explained Niners managing director Steffen Herhold.

After winning the European Cup last season, Chemnitz is playing in the Champions League for the first time this season. In the league, head coach Rodrigo Pastore’s team suffered a clear defeat to German champions FC Bayern in their opening match on Friday. In the cup match between the Saxons and Heidelberg on October 13th in the round of 16.

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