Panathinaikos was close to acquiring Gabriel, his agent asked him to leave Maccabi

Very close to completing its acquisition Wenien Gabriel is located Panathinaikos. According to Israel, an agent of the South Sudanese center contacted Maccabi management and requested the departure of his clientas he considers that now – after the acquisition of Trevion Williams – he is fourth highest in the team’s hierarchy.

Of course, this request is also related to the interest of Panathinaikos, who wants to close the case immediately and the relevant deadline for a transfer from Euroleague expires on Wednesday. Although Oded Katas wants the 27-year-old ace on the roster, at least until Hasiel Rivero returns from injury (late January), as he leaves Israel, everything points to Maccabi letting him go to save a portion of his large contract and wants to collect a buy out. Now it’s a matter of negotiation to agree the amount that will… free the former NBAer to come immediately to Athens and possibly make his debut on Friday in the match against Bayern in Munich.

The two-year contract he signed in the summer provides $750,000 per year and it is third largest on the roster behind those of Jordan Lloyd (1.2 million) and Roman Sorkin (850 thousand). It is noted that in the summer, Panathinaikos had paid a buy out of 600,000 euros to Maccabi for the acquisition of Lorenzo Brown (the amount for Gabriel will not reach these levels), while the relations between the two teams – despite the tension that existed in last year’s playoffs – are traditionally very good.

In any case, Gabriel’s matter will be cleared up today, tomorrow at the latest. After all, if Panathinaikos wants to acquire a player from a Euroleague team, it will have to complete the transfer by December 25, the eve of the start of the second round. The “greens” have 2-3 other cases that they have scouted, but at the moment it seems that Gabriel has priority.