And so it goes: With Morris “La Almendra” Almond in in Madrid, Rimantas Kaukenas is reportedly out. Of course, in again Kaukenas may soon be – with Olimpia Milano.
Spain-based sports website AS.com yesterday reported that Real will be releasing Kaukenas later this week and that the Serie A team would thereafter sign the Lithuanian shooting guard. Said reportage went thusly, roughly:
Due to the ACB limit of seven non-Spanish players, Madrid was forced to release on [with the signing of Almond]. The Lithuanian Kaukenas will, as this newspaper reported on Saturday, be released, although the club has not communicated anything. Madrid must wait until Friday before activating Almond…
The Hoop reports that Kaukenas is well familiar with Serie A ball: “He played for a season in Cantu during 2004-2005 and after that he played for four seasons for Siena as part of the starting lineup and one of the team’s main scorers. Currently, Kaukenas is averaging 8.3 points, 1.1 assists, and 1.1 rebounds per game in 28 games in the ACB, but coach Messina decided to replace him with a younger model,” i.e. Almond.