Justin Hamilton moves to Riga, but…..

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VEF Riga (Latvia, LBL and VTB United League) have captured American center Justin Hamilton (210 cm, Louisiana State’2012), he had left Adriatic league team Cibona Zagreb from Croatia this week. Hamilton had joined Zagreb for the 2012-13 season, he played a total of 21 games for Zagreb in the Adriatic League, and the Eurocup.

During his spell at Zagreb, Justin Hamilton posted 7.8ppg and 3.4rpg in the Eurocup and 8.1ppg and 5.6rpg in the Adriatic League.

Hamilton was picked up by the Philadelphia 76ers as the 45th pick overall in the 2nd round of the 2012 NBA draft, before being sent to the Miami Heat, with whom he played three games in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

Justin Hamilton will be joining a VEF Riga team also competing in the Eurocup and the VTB United League. However, the story may not end here. Cibona claims that Haimlton is still under contract until the end of the season and can’t sign for any other team. They deny that they owe him “several months” of salary, but that they are only “one month behind.”

If a team is one month behind with the salary, it does not automatically mean that the player can take off and leave. It depends on the language in his contract and he would also have to follow a certain protocol and procedure.

Cibona helped Hamilton get a Croatian passport and may not let him go that easy. Most likely the parties will have to negotiate a deal. Usually in these situations the players waive all their monetary claims towards their previous team, so they can get the letter of clearance and sign with the new team.