Report: Veteran NBA Guard Shabazz Napier Leaving Russian Team Amid Ukraine Conflict

The former NBA guard has been playing with BC Zenit in Saint Petersburg since last July.

Former NBA guard Shabazz Napier is leaving BC Zenit in Saint Petersburg as Russia invades Ukraine, according to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Napier has not played in the NBA since the 2019-20 season, when he spent time with Minnesota and Washington. The former UConn star has been with BC Zenit since last July, when he signed a one-year deal with the EuroLeague club. 

Napier was nearing a return from an ankle injury, per Wojnarowski, but elected to leave the club and return to the United States.

Napier is best known for his senior season at UConn in 2013, when he was the star point guard during the Huskies’s improbable run to the national championship as a seven-seed. Napier was named the Most Outstanding Player in the national title game after UConn beat Kentucky 60–54 to claim the school’s fourth men’s basketball national title.