Ethan Thompson Joins Partizan on Two-Year Deal
Guard Ethan Thompson, a Puerto Rico international, played 32 games for the Indiana Pacers last season. He has signed a two-year contract with Partizan, the club's eighth signing of the summer.
The photo went up on the club’s accounts on Sunday morning. A new face in the black and white jersey, with a greeting in English underneath: “Welcome to Belgrade! Welcome to Partizan Mozzart Bet!” That is how the club from Humska announced that Ethan Thompson was now their player.
The guard, who spent last season in the NBA, signed a two-year contract and became Partizan Mozzart Bet’s eighth reinforcement of this transfer window. The club presented him as an American who plays for the Puerto Rico national team, and the news went out at the same time on the club website and on social media, along with a photo from the signing.
Where does Ethan Thompson come from?
From the Indiana Pacers. He played 32 games for that team in the NBA last season. Born on May 4, 1999, in California, he is 27 years old and played college basketball at Oregon State before turning professional.
In a Pacers jersey he averaged 7.0 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. Those are the numbers of a player coming off the bench with a limited role on offense. Thirty two games out of an eighty two game season tell the same story: he was not part of the starting lineup, but a player whose minutes opened up when needed.
Thompson spent a significant part of his career in the G League, where his averages look entirely different: 26.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.6 assists. Two leagues, two completely different jobs for the same player. Partizan is bringing in both versions of his resume.
He already knows a G League teammate from Humska
At the Chicago Bulls’ G League affiliate, Thompson shared a locker room with Carlik Jones, who is also a Partizan player. For the two of them, the new season does not begin with getting acquainted.
It is the kind of detail that is easy to overlook in August and can matter in October. A squad that has changed in eight places this summer is entering the season with plenty of new relationships on the floor, and every pair of players who have already played together shortens the coach’s job.
Puerto Rico and a family name
Thompson wears the Puerto Rico national team jersey. He played with that team at the 2023 World Cup and is part of the squad in the current qualifiers as well. The international calendar comes with him, and that is something Euroleague clubs always take into account.
The surname is not new to basketball. His father Stephen played in the NBA, and his older brother Stephen Jr. also played for the Puerto Rico national team. The family has, in effect, walked the same path three times.
What comes next
The contract was signed for two seasons, not one. That is not a small detail in a story like this: the club is not bringing him in as a stopgap until winter, but as a name it is counting on next summer as well.
Partizan opens its Euroleague season on September 25, at home against Olimpia Milano. There are just over five weeks left until that date, and that is all the time the coaching staff has to turn eight new players into a team that knows what it is doing on offense.
For Thompson, this is his first serious test on this side of the Atlantic. A 26.9 point average in the G League does not carry over to the Euroleague on its own, since the defenses are different there and he will have the ball in his hands less. What Partizan has gained will become clear on the evening of September 25, at Belgrade Arena.
