Nets to host Fenerbahçe Ülker basketball club in preseason game

Bogdanovic guarding Paul Pierce as a member of  in 2012. (AP)
Bogdanovic guarding Paul Pierce as a member of Fenerbahçe Ülker in 2012. (AP)

The Brooklyn Nets have at least one game set next season: they’ll face off against Turkish basketball club Fenerbahçe Ülker on October 5th at Barclays Center as part of their preseason schedule.

There’s one major connection between the franchises. Nets second-year guard Bojan Bogdanovic played with Fenerbahçe from 2011 to 2014, before the Nets bought out his contract and brought him to Brooklyn. Bogdanovic was routinely Fenerbahçe’s leading scorer, and led the club to a Turkish Cup championship in 2013 and a Turkish League championship in 2014.

“We are excited to be hosting Fenerbahce, as it will be a reunion for Bojan Bogdanovic with his former team,” Nets general manager Billy King said in a prepared statement. “Our fans will have an opportunity to see one of the best coached teams in all of Europe when they come to Brooklyn.”

The Brooklyn Nets have a history of unorthodox preseason games. The team has hosted Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa in recent seasons, and last year traveled to China as part of the NBA Global Games initiative to play the Sacramento Kings in Shanghai and Beijing.

Former NBA players on Fenerbahce include Pero Antic, Luigi Datome, Ekpe Udoh, and Jan Vesely, as well as Bogdan Bogdanovic[note]Not related to Bojan Bogdanovic.[/note], whose rights are owned by the Phoenix Suns. Antic faced off against the Nets in the first round of the playoffs this past season with the Atlanta Hawks.