Zalgiris Kaunas announced Tuesday that it has exercised its options to extend the contracts of two key players from last season’s squad, veteran guard Marko Popovic and forward Vytenis Lipkevicius, for the 2012-13 season. Popovic was the team's top weapon off the bench last season with 12.5 points and 2.1 assists in 14 Turkish Airlines Euroleague games off the bench. Lipkevicius is a product of the Zalgiris youth system, who joined the club’s senior squad in November of last season.

Turkish Airlines Euroleague hopeful Unics Kazan signed shooting guard Victor Zvarykin for the coming season. Zvarykin (1.98 meters, 26 years old) previously spent parts of two seasons with Unics between 2009 and 2011. He arrives from fellow Russian side Triumph Lyubertsy where he put up strong numbers across the board last season.

PavelSergeevUnics Kazan announced Pavel Sergeev (186-PG-87, agency: Ryzhov Stanislav) for the next season. The Russian point guard according to sportando.net via VK Unics Kazan will move from Spartak SPB. In 2004-2005 he started for Spartak St.Petersburg (A Superleague) and in 13 games averaged 3.4ppg, 1.0rpg. In 2005-2006 moved to 2007-2008: Unics Kazan and in ULEB Cup averaged 4.0ppg, 1.8rpg, 1.5apg, 1.0spg. In Russian League after 19 games his stats read 3

PJ TuckerSpartak St Petersburg eye Anthony Leon Tucker (198-F-85, college: Texas) for the next season. According to news.sport-express.ru the Russian team is ready to pay 1.8 mln. In 2011-2012 for Brose Baskets Bamberg (Germany-1.Bundesliga) Anthony Leon Tucker averaged 8.9ppg, 6.2rpg, 1.6apg, FGP: 52.2%, FT: 63.3% in Euroleague. In German League he became the second top-scorer with 16.2ppg, Reb-5 (7.1rpg), 1.4apg, 1.2spg, FGP: 61.7%, 3PT: 47.5%, FT: 77.0%

TimofeiMozgovRussia - Great Britain 87:51 Russian National Team played another friendly game prior to the start of Olympic Qualifying Tournament. They faced Great Britain in San Antonio. Russia claimed a comfortable win behind 16 points from Timofey Mozgov (216-C-86, agency: Ryzhov Stanislav). Great Britain entered the game without Luol Deng, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Joel Freeland and Archibald. Russia capitalized taking over right from the start

Anadolu Efes has tabbed promising small forward Birkan Batuk as its first signing ahead of the 2012-13 season. Batuk (1.96 meters, 22 years old) is a skilled scorer who was the MVP of last season’s Turkish League all-star game. Batuk produced 26 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists to help the Turkish Stars to a 128-127 come-from-behind win over the Foreign Stars.

An end of an era has arrived for basketball in Malaga, Spain, where Unicaja announced that team captain Berni Rodriguez will not play for the club next season. Rodriguez, born in Malaga and a member of the club from age 8, will get a lasting honor with Unicaja’s decision that his No. 5 jersey will be retired. Rodriguez leaves as Unicaja's career leader in scoring (4,742 points), assists (1,409), steals (549) and performance index ranking (3,860).

ViktorZvarykinVictor Zvarykin (198-G-86) heads to Unics for the next season. The Russian Guard moves from Triumph Lyubertsy. In 2011 Triumph have secured the services of Victor Zvarykin for one season. The guard started the earlier season with Unics. He tallied 1.3 points per game in PBL. In VTB League his stats read 4.0 points and 2.0 rebounds per appearance. In January Victor Zvarykin moved to Krasnye Krilya. The guard notched 7.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1

A coaching legend is back to his trademark team, as Partizan mt:s has announced the return of Dusko Vujosevic, who penned a three-year deal with the Serbian powerhouse on Monday. Vujosevic, age 53, has not coached for nearly two years following an early departure from CSKA Moscow in late November, 2010. A former Alexander Gomelskiy Coach of the Year award winner, Vujosevic guided Partizan to the 2010 Euroleague Final Four in Paris.

Turkish Airlines Euroleague power Real Madrid reached a new agreement with head coach Pablo Laso to extend his contract until the end of the 2013-14 season, the club announced Monday. Laso, 44, arrived in the Spanish capital last summer and has pleased Madrid fans with his team's run-and-gun, fun-to-watch basketball, which led the Whites to a good season. Madrid lifted its first trophy in over four years, the Spanish King's Cup, and made it to the Spanish League finals, losing in a thrilling, five-game series against archrivals FC Barcelona Regal. Madrid also made it to the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Top 16 but lost the chance to reach the playoffs on points differential. Madrid under Laso was the Euroleague's top-scoring team this season with 86 points per game, the fifth-highest average in the last 10 seasons.