Zenit St Petersburg brought back a familiar face by signing shooting guard Sergey Karasev to a one-year contract on Monday. Karasev (2.01 meters, 27 years old) arrives from Khimki Moscow Region, where he averaged 5.7 points on 61.7% two-point shooting and 2.0 rebounds in 28 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague games last season. Born in St Petersburg, this will be Karasev's third stint with the club where he started his career.
Karasev played for the then-called Triumph Lyubertsy until 2013 before spending time in the United States with from Brooklyn and Cleveland of the NBA and Canton of the G League. He returned to Zenit, where he played from 2016 to 2019. Karasev is also a member of the Russian national team and helped it win a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
In 50 EuroLeague games with Khimki, Karasev averaged 4.8 points. He played four 7DAYS EuroCup seasons with Zenit - one of them as Triumph – in which he averaged 15.3 points in 49 games. Only three players have a better scoring average with as many games played - former teammate Errick McCollum (17.0 ppg.), David Logan (16.1 ppg.) and Mire Chatman (15.8 ppg.). He is the son of Vasiliy Karasev, a Russian basketball legend and Sergey's former coach.
