Thomas Kelati

Basketball guard Thomas Kelati has applied for Polish citizenship in late January, according to Polish media reports. The Eritrean-American professional is currently playing for Valencia in the Spanish ACB league and has strong ties to Poland.

Kelati used to play for Polish Basketball club Turow Zgorzelec and is married to a polish woman, with whom he has two children.

Polish officials have already received all necessary documents and say that the naturalization case might be finalized in June.

Under Polish legislation the application procedure could have been shorter for Kelati if he had been  married for at least three years to his wife. The couple married two years ago.

As a Polish citizen Kelati could play for the Polish national team. However, according to the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) only one naturalized player is allowed to play in a national team.

Kelati struggled to find a new team throughout 2009 as things were not as smooth as expected for the guard. He initially had made a deal with Olympiakos, but his contract was terminated after a medical team discovered health problems.

He returned to America to sign a non-guaranteed contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. One month later Lakers waved the guard announcing that he did not make it through to the final roster.

Following his four year academic career at Washington State University, Kelati went to Europe and helped Belgian team Dexia Mons-Hainaut winning the Belgian Championship in 2006. In the same year he transferred to Polish league team Turow Zgorzelec and continued to play for Spanish team Malaga in 2008.

The Los Angeles Lakers have waived guard Thomas Kelati, it was announced on Wednesday. Kelati, who signed with the Lakers as a free agent on September 30, played in five preseason games where he averaged 1.6 points and 1.2 rebounds in 6.2 minutes.

Kelati, a 6-5 guard out of Washington State, spent last season playing for Unicaja in Spain where he averaged 11.8 points and 1.9 rebounds in 22.5 minutes.

Prior to his stint in Spain, Kelati played for BOT Turow Zgorzelec (Poland-DBL) for two seasons (2006-08) where he helped lead the team to consecutive Polish league finals appearances.

As a member of Zorzelec, Kelati appeared in 77 games, averaging 15.4 points and 3.0 rebounds. Kelati started his professional career in Belgium in 2005, playing for Dexia Mons-Hainaut.

Kelati, who played all four years at Washington State, finished his collegiate career ranked among all-time school leaders in 3-point field goal percentage (third-.427), 3-point field goals (second-232), assists (eighth-274), and steals (seventh-133). Source: (NBA)

Thomas Kelati

The Los Angeles Lakers have signed free agent guard Thomas Kelati, it was announced yesterday. Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not released.

Kelati, a 6-5 guard out of Washington State, spent last season playing for Unicaja in Spain where he averaged 11.8 points and 1.9 rebounds in 22.5 minutes.

Prior to his stint in Spain, Kelati played for BOT Turow Zgorzelec (Poland-DBL) for two seasons (2006-08) where he helped lead the team to consecutive Polish league finals appearances.

As a member of Zorzelec, Kelati appeared in 77 games, averaging 15.43 points and 2.96 rebounds. Kelati started his professional career in Belgium in 2005, playing for Dexia Mons-Hainaut. Source: (Real GM)

Thomas Kelati

Thomas Kelati, the only professional basketball player from Eritrea in Europe has signed to play for Greek basketball club Olympiacos.

The 26 year old point guard transferred from Spanish basketball club UNICAJA and made his first press conference stating:

“I am really excited, Olympiacos is one of the giants at European basketball, a team that has reached Heights in the world. It is my honour to be a member of this team.”

He admitted that two days ago he did not even know in which direction his career would go.

The contract that he signed was after a second meeting with his agent, who told him that Olympiacos would be interested in a two-year deal.

Kelati added: “Once I made up my mind, I stopped considering proposals from other basketball teams.”

Kelati says, he knows his new team well, as he faced Olympiakos during the Euroleague playoffs last year when playing for UNICAJA.

For the Eritrean player this is a good start to working on winning the race for the Greek Championship against arch rival Panathinaikos. He was born in the United States after his parents Emigrated to the US from Eritrea.

Following his four year academic career at Washington State University, he went to Europe and helped Belgian team Dexia Mons-Hainaut winning the Belgian Championship in 2006.

Kelati was then signed by Polish team Turow Zgorzlec before moving to Spain. The Greeks must have been very impressed by Kelati’s performance in last year’s match Olympiacos against UNICAJA.

Click here to see Kelati in action, a video watched by every Olympiacos supporter.

According to the Basketball Association of Uganda (FUBA), Eritrea is going to take part in this year’s Africa Zone 5 Club Basketball Championship. The cup will be in Kampala from the 27th July to the 2nd of August. Other participating countries are Burundi, Egypt, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and Rwanda. Each country will be represented with a men’s and women’s team. Read more: Daily Monitor.