Gabriele Procida and Tarik Biberovic Are Two Stashes To Monitor this Season

With EuroLeague standings starting to take shape and rosters mostly finalized, player roles are getting close to being set in stone as well. Once again, two NBA stashes, Gabriele Procida and Tarik Biberovic, seem poised for impressive roles and seasons.

May 18, 2022; Chicago, IL, USA; Gabriele Procida participates during the NBA Draft Combine at Wintrust Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images / David Banks-Imagn Images

There are a handful of stashed prospects playing in the 2024-25 EuroLeague season but through almost the first third of the season, two are separating themselves as the best of the bunch: Tarik Biberovic and Gabriele Procida.

Biberovic’s rights are still owned by the Memphis Grizzlies and his strong play to start this season is no surprise. Biberovic was arguably the best shooter in EuroLeague last season - 53 percent from deep on 81 attempts - and there was speculation that the Grizzlies might try to bring him over in the summer of 2024 if they couldn’t make the cap work to bring back sharpshooter Luke Kennard. The former ultimately worked out, but Biberovic is currently shooting 42 percent from deep on over six attempts per game now. 

This increase in volume while maintaining elite accuracy will likely have the Grizzlies looking at potentially bringing Biberovic over this summer too. Additionally, at 6-foot-7 and nearly 220 pounds Biberovic has more to his game than being a knockdown shooter. He’s getting a blend of opportunities in isolation, handoffs, and running pick-and-roll this season. With all the talent a team like Fenerbahce has - Skyler Mays, Wade Baldwin IV, etc. - these opportunities are scarce but it’s clear head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius believes in his talent and trusts him to do more than space the floor so long as he is still prioritizing his strongest skillset. 

Biberovic has gotten better as a defender too. He showed growth in this area last season, but part of that growth was attributable to less playing time giving him more bandwidth to be aggressive with his size and not be scared of getting in foul trouble. He committed a foul nearly every eight minutes last season. His increase in minutes this season could’ve led to that being an issue but he’s adjusted to a foul every 10.4 minutes, a much more manageable rate. Biberovic will be 24 next offseason, and with Kennard coming off the books and the Grizzlies projected to be over the cap - they will have to figure out if they want to pay Jake LaRavia too - Biberovic could be the replacement for Kennard on an exception deal.

While Biberovic is thriving in a solid role with a contending team, Utah Jazz stash Gabriele Procida is taking on a leading role with the bottom of the EuroLeague standings club ALBA Berlin. Last week, Procida posted a EuroLeague career-high 25 points against Crvena Zvezda and grabbed seven rebounds, added three steals and two blocks. 

Despite the loss, Gabriele Procida (🇮🇹 F, '02) had a career night vs Crvena Zvezda Belgrade:
25 PTS (EL career high)
10/16 FG
7 REB
1 AST
3 STL
2 BLK
34 PIR
Procida was named the 2023-24 EuroLeague Rising Star, The Jazz own his draft rights#Euroleague #scouting pic.twitter.com/WvV2GylYF3

— Spel (@spel81) November 7, 2024

This was a needed performance from Procida who otherwise was off to a rocky start for the season. He’s currently averaging 7.1 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 0.4 assists per game on 36/24/75 shooting splits. These numbers are all down from last season on roughly the same minutes per game. While this cold start to the season for Procida is frustrating it’s far from a concern. Fellow Italian wing Simone Fontecchio didn’t come over to the NBA until he was 25 years old. When he was Procida’s age, he wasn’t even getting on the court in EuroLeague play for Milano and had to leave the Italian club the following season for ALBA Berlin to finally get playing time.

No two prospects are the same, but the repetitions and minutes Procida is getting with ALBA Berlin this season - a team that never expected to compete for even the EuroLeague play-in places - are what matters most and provide confidence that he’ll continue to develop as a prospect. The summer of 2025 seems like it will be too early for Procida, but if he comes over a couple of seasons from them he’ll certainly be a name to remember.