The club preferred to wait until the player is there physically to formalize his signature. This time it is done. American Mike James (1.85m, 31) has affixed his name to the bottom of a one-year contract with Monaco, where he will be the titular point guard for the first season in his history in the Euroleague. The club formalized its coming Friday morning.
In the top 3 scorers of the Euroleague for three seasons (number one in 2018-2019 with 19.8 points), he still weighed 19.3 points at CSKA Moscow during the past financial year before securing a solid freelance in Brooklyn (7.7 points, 4.2 assists in 18 minutes over 13 matches). James arrived Thursday in a Principality with a sky darkened by a few showers. But it is full sun on this Friday, where he passed his physical tests to validate his commitment.
Around a million euros, but not only …
As well known for his individual genius on the floors as for a character that is hard to channel, even unmanageable – evidenced by his relationship problems with the big names of the coaching Ettore Messina, who ousted him from Milan on his arrival, or Dimitris Itoudis at CSKA Moscow , which he left with a crash after being suspended several times, while he was engaged in Russia until 2023 -, the relationship that James will have with the Montenegrin explosive Zvezdan Mitrovic will be decisive in the alchemy of the he Monegasque team and its success on the European courts this season.
And how much does that cost ? According to several sources, Monaco will pay around one million euros, the highest salary in the history of the French Championship. We are still far from the player’s emoluments in Moscow, where he earned, according to the Eurohoops.net site, at $ 2.5 million (about € 2.1 million) per season.
The amicable agreement reached with CSKA, which has donated a large part of the remainder ($ 5 million by 2023) should allow the player to absorb this drop in income, at least over one season, to the shelter of the Rock. While waiting to consider the future, if the Roca Team won the top 8 – a synonym for them to stay in the Euroleague next season.
In the lead, James will play alongside Frenchman Leo Westermann, back in Betclic Elite after six years away from France, and former Orléanais Paris Lee.
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