Harris Stavrou of NBA Greece reported that Canadian center Khem Birch will opt-out of his contract with Olympiacos to sign with the Orlando Magic.
Olympiacos’ center Khem Birch opted-out of his contract with the greek team to sign with the @OrlandoMagic
— Harris Stavrou (@harris_stavrou) July 10, 2017
Birch is coming off a strong season with Olympiacos where he made it to the Euroleague Final with the Greek club before losing to Fenerbahce. With Olympiacos, Birch averaged 18.1mpg, 7.2ppg, 5.65rpg, and 1bpg. Birch was well known for his ability to protect the rim due to his anticipation skills and his ability to switch out onto the perimeter and stick with guards when defending the pick-and-roll.
Birch previously played in the G-League with Miami Heat affiliate Sioux Falls Skyforce in 2014-15 before heading overseas to Turkey for one season and then signing in Greece with Olympiacos.
Olympiacos is now down to one center on their roster – Nikola Milutinov – after Patric Young left for Olimpia Milano.
It will be interesting to see if the Magic start to shop around Nikola Vucevic and/or Bismack Biyombo on the trade market now that they’ve added Birch to their roster.
