Everything is new at the Gießen 46ers: After being relegated from the basketball league, the Mittelhessen have to start with new staff in the second division.
The Giessen 46ers will start the new season completely overhauled. The Bundesliga relegated will not keep any of his import players from last season and will initially concentrate on signing German basketball players.
Only Begue goes into the second division
When the Mittelhessen listed their current squad a few days ago at the end of the announcement of Nico Brauner’s signing, it consisted of only four names – three players (in addition to Brauner, new signing Luis Elias Figge and Maximilian Begue) and the new head coach Branislav Ignjatovic are currently available 2022/2023 under contract.
Because of the six import players Kendale McCullum, Nuni Omot, Phillip Fayne II, TJ Williams, JD Miller and Martins Laksa will no longer return to Gießen, as has now been announced. The departure of the captain, who is being discussed at the Hamburg Towers, is particularly painful. “Of course one would have liked to keep a player like McCullum, but that’s utopian. He will take his next step, probably also on the international stage,” said managing director Sebastian Schmidt.
The season does not start until autumn
He now has the difficult task of setting up the club well for the ProA. “For the new squad, we are first concentrating on signing the German players. Then we will sign the foreign players. Our plan is to start the season with four imports,” said Schmidt.
He still has enough time for that: The first league games are not due until the end of September or the beginning of October. For the Giessen 46ers, who were able to avert relegation with a wildcard a year ago, returning to the top flight will be a mammoth task.
