Former Liberty guard Caleb Homesley has inked a deal with the professional basketball team in Russia, BC Zenit, the club announced. The 6’5″ guard signed a one year contract with BC Zenit. This will be Homesley’s third professional season after spending his first year in the G League and last season in Germany with the Hamburg Towers.
Homesley spent the past couple of weeks with the Utah Jazz in the summer league. He played in four games with the Jazz where he averaged 7.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1 steal per game.
Zenit is the defending champion in its league where Homesley will be joined by several Russian born players as well as a few American players including Joe Thomasson and Trey Thompkins. Thomasson played at Wright State before his professional career. Thompkins was a 2nd round pick of the 2011 NBA Draft following his collegiate career at Georgia. After being take with the 37th overall pick by the Los Angeles Clippers, Thompkins played in 24 games with the Clippers during his rookie season.
Last year in Germany with the Hamburg Towers, Homesley played in 32 games, averaged 26.6 minutes, 16 points, 4 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game while shooting 39.4% from the field, 32.7% from three, and 74.7% from the free throw line.
Homesley finished his Liberty career as one of the best players in school history. He was a two-year ASUN First Team All-Conference selection, including being named the 2020 ASUN Player of the Year and Tournament MVP during his senior campaign as he helped the Flames to 59 wins and back to back ASUN regular season and Tournament championships his final two seasons. Homesley finished his Liberty career No. 10 on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,539 points and No. 8 on the all-time rebounding list with 703 rebounds.
Prior to his time in Germany, Homesley spent his first professional season in the G League with the Erie Bayhawks after a brief sting with the Washington Wizards on an Exhibit 10 contract after going undrafted in the 2020 NBA Draft. The 6’6″, 205 pound rookie played 10 minutes in one preseason game with the Wizards prior to the 2020-21 season, scoring two points while grabbing four rebounds and shooting one of seven from the field and zero of five from three point range.
He was waived by the Wizards shortly before the beginning of the NBA season, and was then assigned to the Erie BayHawks, the New Orleans Pelicans’ G League affiliate, after the Wizards’ G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go were among a few teams who opted out of the 2021 G League season. In 15 games with the BayHawks, Homesley spent much of his time in the starting lineup and averaged 9.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in the Orlando bubble.
In the summer of 2021, Homesley had an impressive outing in his NBA Summer League debut with the Washington Wizards in Las Vegas. He started all four games while averaging 12.0 points, 4.75 rebounds, 2.25 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game. During his time in Vegas, Homesley shot 19 of 42 from the field (45.24%) and 6 of 20 from three-point range (30.0%).
