Markus Howard's future could be resolved this week. Galatasaray is negotiating the transfer of the American shooting guard with Baskonia, according to Can Bedel on Eski Acik, and conversations involving the player's representatives have been ongoing for three weeks.
The move has a particular twist: the ball is in the player's court. If Howard agrees to leave the EuroLeague, the Turkish club will initiate the process to close the trade agreement with the Vitoria-based club. His response is expected in the coming days.
What Galatasaray is Looking For
The interest is framed around a specific project. The Istanbul club is building a roster to compete for the Basketball Champions League 2026-27 title and wants an impactful signing on the perimeter. Few names on the European market deliver more scoring impact per minute than Howard.
A Departure That Was Coming
For Baskonia, the deal would close a situation that had been dragging on for months. Howard arrived in Vitoria in 2022 from the Denver Nuggets and later signed an extension keeping him tied to the club for two more seasons, but his playing time has steadily decreased: last season he averaged 10.4 points, 2.1 assists, and 1.6 rebounds in twenty minutes across 23 EuroLeague games, far from the numbers that made him one of the competition's most feared scorers.
Baskonia's perimeter reconstruction this summer, with the arrivals of Damion Baugh, AJ Lawson, DJ Stewart, and Chris Duarte, pointed in the same direction: head coach Paolo Galbiati no longer counts on the Maryland native as a central piece, and his salary is one of the highest on the roster.
It remains to be seen whether Howard, who at his best was the EuroLeague's leading scorer, will accept trading the continent's top competition for a winning project in the BCL. That is the decision that could come within days.