- September 20-2013
Arsalan Kazemi has announced he will be playing basketball in Iran this coming season and not with the Philadelphia 76ers, the Iranian Students News Agency has reported.
With Hamed Haddadi dropped by the Phoenix Suns and also now signed with an Iranian team, the National Basketball Association (NBA) has now gone from having two Iranian players to none.
After five seasons in the NBA, the Suns cut Haddadi in June. There were stories about the New York Knicks looking him over, but nothing came of that and Haddadi has now signed with Foolad Mahan of Esfahan. Whether his NBA career is over remains an open question, but it does not look good for his return to the NBA.
Arsalan Kazemi, on the other hand, was just at the start of an NBA career. He was drafted by the 76ers only days before the Suns dropped Haddadi.
With several big men competing for only a few spots on the 76ers’ roster, one of the questions has been what to do with Kazemi. The draft pick had been rumored to be heading overseas since the end of July.
Now ISNA reports it conducted an interview with the 23-year-old last week in which Kazemi said he will play for Petrochimi Bandar Imam in the Iranian league. Petrochimi won the 2012-13 Iranian championship, and in the past was able to draw several American players before sanctions shut that down.
According to ISNA’s story on the interview, Kazemi is still in the 76ers players’ stable but decided to play this season in Iran to gain more experience since there would not be a good spot for him this season in Philadelphia. He indicated he would likely spend most of his time on the bench with only rare playing opportunities, the fate that bedeviled Haddadi in the NBA.
Kazemi was quoted as saying it was normal for NBA teams to send their extra players to teams in the US Development League or to teams abroad to save payroll money and to give the men more experience.
Asked why he came to play in Iran rather than in Europe, which is more common for young players, Kazemi said, “I chose Iran for several reasons. I would love to play in my country. I want to make the best of it while I have the opportunity. l always want to help my country.”
But he also said playing time was a factor in his decision. He said he wanted a lot of time on the court—an average of 30 minutes a game—but was not likely to get that in Europe.
He said he spoke with Philadelphia’s technical manager and he suggested that Kazemi sign up with a team in China or Iran. Kazemi rejected China, which has not had great success in basketball internationally, and decided to play in Iran, which just won the Asian championships this summer with Haddadi, but not Kazemi, playing. Kazemi had stayed in the United States to play in the American summer league in an effort to boost his chances with the 76ers.