Denzel Valentine is being courted by Apu Udine
Apu Udine continues to be active in the transfer market to round out its backcourt and has reportedly identified Denzel Valentine as one of its top targets. According to La Prealpina, the Friuli-based club is closely monitoring the American guard, born in 1993, who is coming off a stint with Reyer Venezia.
Last season, Valentine averaged 6.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in Serie A, while improving his numbers in the EuroCup with 7.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game.
After arriving in Italy in 2024, the former NBA player had a brief stint with Olimpia Milano before moving to Pallacanestro Trieste and then to Reyer Venezia. Now his future may lie once again in Serie A, with Udine ready to step forward to secure his services.
Valentine’s journey has its roots in a family deeply immersed in basketball: born on November 16, 1993, in Lansing, Michigan, his father Carlton played for Michigan State in the 1980s before embarking on a coaching career, while his older brother Drew is currently the head coach at Loyola University Chicago. Having developed as a basketball player at Michigan State University under Coach Tom Izzo, Valentine established himself as one of the stars of American college basketball, finishing his senior season in 2015–16 with averages of 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 7.8 assists, and winning, among other honors, the prestigious Naismith College Player of the Year award.
Selected in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft with the 14th overall pick by the Chicago Bulls, Valentine played five NBA seasons with the Illinois-based franchise, reaching his peak during the 2017–18 season with averages of 10.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.2 assists in 77 games. After brief stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Utah Jazz and a spell in the G-League with the Maine Celtics, he played in Australia for the Sydney Kings before arriving in Europe in March 2024 with Olimpia Milano, with whom he won the Scudetto.
His time in Trieste proved to be the most exhilarating chapter of his Italian adventure: during the 2024–25 season, Valentine had become one of the technical and emotional leaders of Pallacanestro Trieste, finishing with outstanding statistics—15.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game, shooting 49.2% from two-point range and 40.4% from three-point range—before succumbing to the lure of Reyer Venezia, where he served as a key sixth man in coach Neven Spahija’s rotations.
