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This content was machine-translated from the French version.
The 2026 EuroLeague transfer window continues to make waves. In the space of 48 hours, two signings from the NBA have shaken up the market: the historic move of Jonas Valanciunas to Zalgiris Kaunas, and the promising signing of Tyson Etienne by Paris Basketball. Two moves that point to an increasingly ambitious European off-season.
Valanciunas-Zalgiris: the giant’s return
This was the transfer that set the basketball world alight on Wednesday.
This was the transfer that set the basketball world alight on Wednesday. After fourteen seasons in the NBA — Toronto, Memphis, New Orleans, Denver — Jonas Valanciunas has officially signed a two-year contract with Zalgiris Kaunas, the club where he came through the ranks. The 34-year-old Lithuanian centre, drafted in 2011 by the Raptors, returns to Lithuania and the EuroLeague in a move reminiscent of the scale of Nikola Mirotic’s return to Barça a few years ago.
Averaging 12.2 points and 8.8 rebounds last season in Denver, Valanciunas remained a solid centre in the NBA. His decision to return to Europe, with a year remaining on his contract (the Nuggets held a team option), demonstrates a desire to come full circle back to where it all began. For Zalgiris, this is a monumental development: the Lithuanian club, which reached the quarter-finals last season, has secured a top-class centre and is clearly signalling its ambitions.
Paris Basketball signs Tyson Etienne
In the French capital, Paris Basketball continues to successfully tap into the NBA talent pool. Following T.J. Warren, the club based at Porte de la Chapelle officially announced on Thursday the signing of Tyson Etienne, a 26-year-old point guard who was on a two-way contract with the Brooklyn Nets. Last season, Etienne played 24 matches for Brooklyn, averaging 7.9 points and 1.7 assists under coach Jordi Fernandez.
For his first spell outside the United States, the Englewood native joins a Parisian side set to contest its second consecutive EuroLeague campaign. Having come through the ranks at Wichita State, where he made a name for himself as one of the NCAA’s most formidable shooters, Etienne then carved out a path for himself between the G-League and two-way contracts, patiently biding his time. This move to Paris represents much more than a simple change of continent: it is the opportunity to become the starting point guard for a EuroLeague side, with responsibilities he would never have had in the NBA.
Paris Basketball, which enjoyed an encouraging first European season last year, continues to pursue a clear strategy: attracting underutilised talent from across the Atlantic and offering them a platform to relaunch their careers. Following T.J. Warren, who made an immediate impact, the capital club is banking on the youth and hunger of a player who has never really been given his chance in the top league. It’s an approach that, relatively speaking, is reminiscent of the one that led to Shane Larkin’s signing by Anadolu Efes a few years ago — with the success we all know.
An off-season that is shaking up the European balance of power
These two signings, however different they may be, tell the same story: the EuroLeague is a magnet. Long regarded as a fallback league for players nearing the end of their NBA careers, the European competition has become a destination in its own right, capable of persuading established talents like Valanciunas to return, and ambitious young players like Etienne to cross the Atlantic to build up their CVs.
The 2026 summer transfer window has only just begun, but it has already set the bar very high. Zalgiris Kaunas has secured a national legend who could transform the team into a Final Four contender. Paris Basketball, for its part, continues to bolster a squad that will clearly be aiming for the top eight next season. Upcoming moves — a possible return to Europe for Nikola Mirotic, and the contractual situations of several NBA veterans — could further amplify a trend that is clearly only just beginning.
