Former Cavaliers center Zizic officially signs in Israel

Free agent center Ante Zizic has signed with Maccabi Tel Aviv of Israel, the club announced Tuesday.

Zizic, 23, is 6-foot-10 and spent each of the past three seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was acquired from the Boston Celtics in the Kyrie Irving trade in August 2017. Other than Cavs guard Collin Sexton (No. 8 overall pick, 2018), Zizic was the last player involved in that deal who remained with the same team.

Zizic was the No. 23 overall pick by the Celtics in 2016. He had committed to Spanish club Real Madrid earlier this summer, but changed his mind, seemingly at the last minute.

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— Maccabi Tel Aviv BC 🇮🇱 (@MaccabiTLVBC) August 25, 2020

Zizc appeared in just 22 games this past season, and most of those were before the team traded for center Andre Drummond. Eventually, Zizic fell behind Drummond and Tristan Thompson in the rotation, and on occasion, Kevin Love and Larry Nance Jr., too.

Along with that, the Cavs agreed to a deal with free agent center/forward Jordan Bell in June.

Zizic appeared in 59 games, started 25 and averaged 7.8 points and 5.4 rebounds in 2018-19. But those averages dropped to 4.4 points and 3.0 boards with the Cavs last season. He also made plenty of appearances with the Canton Charge of the G League during his time in Cleveland.

His older brother, Andrija Zizic, also played for Maccabi Tel Aviv.