Panathinaikos BC OPAP announces the one-year agreement with Tyrese Rice.
Tyrese Jammal Rice (born May 15, 1987) is an American-born Montenegrin professional basketball player who played for Brose Bamberg last year. The 2014 EuroLeague Final Four MVP and 2019 Basketball Champions League MVP, averaged 16.4 points, 4.4 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game in the previous BCL season.
Rice attended L. C. Bird High School in Chesterfield, Virginia, and played on the school's basketball team. In the 2004–05 season, he averaged 27.0 points, 6.2 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game that season.
Rice signed his letter of intent to play basketball at and attend Boston College on April 28, 2005. A highlight of Rice's junior season (2007–08) was a career-high 46-point performance in a 90–80 home loss to North Carolina on March 1, 2008. He scored 34 points by halftime. Rice averaged 21.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game. In a scintillating senior year (2008–09), Rice experienced a dip in his scoring, averaging 16.9 points a game but improved in other statistical categories, averaging 3.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists a game.
Rice went undrafted in the 2009 NBA draft; he had been projected to be selected in the second round or go undrafted. He then joined the Greek League club Panionios for the 2009–10 season.
Rice played for the Utah Jazz in the Orlando Pro Summer League and later with Sacramento Kings in the NBA Summer League in 2010. He was signed by the Artland Dragons for the 2010–11 season, a team in Germany's Basketball Bundesliga, the top league in the country.
In the 2011–12 season Rice played for Lietuvos rytas of the Lithuanian Basketball League. In 2012–13 season he returned to Germany to play for Bayern Munich.
On July 11, 2013, Rice signed a two-year contract with the Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv. In his first season with Maccabi, he won the EuroLeague, with him averaging 9.5 points, 3.2 assists and 2.1 rebounds over 30 games. After beating favored Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano in a dramatic playoff series, Maccabi advanced to the EuroLeague Final Four. In the semifinal game, he was responsible for the 68–67 victory over CSKA Moscow by scoring the game-winner with 5.5 seconds left on the clock.[16] In the championship final game against Real Madrid, he scored 26 points, leading his team to a sixth European title, after an overtime 98-86 victory. For such a performance, he was named the EuroLeague Final Four MVP.
On June 30, 2014, Rice signed a three-year deal with the Russian club Khimki. In the 2014–15 EuroCup season, he was named to the All-EuroCup First Team and selected the EuroCup season MVP.[21][22] Khimki eventually won the EuroCup, and Rice was named the EuroCup Finals MVP.
On July 26, 2016, Rice signed a two-year contract with FC Barcelona. On January 15, 2018, Rice parted ways with Barcelona and signed with the Chinese team Shenzhen Leopards for the rest of the season. On August 5, 2018, Rice returned to Germany for a third stint, signing a one-year deal with Brose Bamberg. With Bamberg, Rice played in the Basketball Champions League in which he was named the Most Valuable Player of the competition. He led Bamberg to the Final Four, where the team was defeated twice and thus ended in fourth place.
In July 2013, Rice received a Montenegrin passport that allowed him to play for the senior men's Montenegrin national team at the EuroBasket 2013. He also played at the EuroBasket 2017.
