Tall Blacks star Kirk Penney will move from Spain to Turkey to continue his professional basketball odyssey.

The former NZ Breakers shooting guard confirmed he had signed to play for TED Ankara Kolejliler in the Turkish Basketball League (TBL) after severing ties with Spanish club Fuenlabrada.

Penney has expressed an interest in returning to the Breakers, possibly to wind down his career, but for now he remains committed to playing at the highest level possible in Turkey.

 

"Signed to play in Ankara, Turkey. A new chapter begins" Penney tweeted this morning of a career that's seen him play in Israel, Lithuania, Spain (twice), Germany and the USA, along with New Zealand, following his successful four-year college career at Wisconsin, which included a Final Four appearance in 2000.

Penney joins a team on a high in the Turkish capital. Ankara Kolejliler earned promotion to the top league in Turkey, winning the TBL-2 last season after a 20-2 regular season.

Penney had a successful season Fuenlabrada, finishing as the fifth highest scorer in the highly regarded Spanish league, averaging 14.4 points a game in 28 games, while averaging 12.4 points in 14 EuroChallenge games.

The previous season he averaged 20 points per game, helping his hometown NZ Breakers to their first Australian NBL championship. Penney was the ANBL leading scorer in 2009 and 2010, and MVP in 2009.

Penney was a notable defection from the Tall Blacks' ill-fated Olympic qualifying campaign earlier this month, opting to recover from a calf injury picked up late in the Spanish season.

- © Fairfax NZ News