Markel Brown Has Already Found a New Home After Leaving Trieste: His Choice
After his departure, his new destination (which is also a place he’s called home before): fresh off his departure from Pallacanestro Trieste, Markel Brown returns to Naples. The news was announced Thursday by the Campania-based club itself, which is thus welcoming back a player who had previously worn its colors in 2024, helping the team win the Italian Cup. However, the announcement comes just a few hours after another press release: that regarding his controversial departure from Trieste.
“Napoli Basketball,” reads the statement from the Neapolitan club, “announces that it has signed athlete Markel Brown for the 2026–2027 season. Born in Alexandria, U.S., in 1992, the 192-centimeter guard was one of the key players in the Azzurri’s extraordinary Coppa Italia triumph during the 2023–2024 season. A graduate of Oklahoma State University, he had his first NBA experience in 2014–2015 with the Brooklyn Nets, where he played for two seasons. In 2017–2018, after an excellent first half of the season in the G-League with the Oklahoma City Blue (averaging 17.4 points) and with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers (averaging 15.9 points per game), he returned to the NBA, this time with the Houston Rockets.”
As they look back on Brown’s career, the people of Campania haven’t forgotten his stint in the Julian region, which ended in the worst possible way. “In 2022–2023,” the statement continues, “he had an extraordinary season with Varese, ranking among the league’s best players with 16.9 points and 4 rebounds per game, and reaching the postseason with the Lombardy-based team. After starting the season in Girona, Spain, in 2023–2024 he had his first stint in Naples, averaging 12.2 points per game and winning the Italian Cup. Over the past two seasons, he has played for Pallacanestro Trieste, still in Serie A1, making the playoffs in both seasons, averaging 15.5 points and 5.1 rebounds in the 2024–2025 league season, and also making his mark in the Champions League, finishing with an average of 12.2 points and 3.6 rebounds in the European competition.”
The mutual termination of his contract with Trieste, formalized on the same day, brings to a close one of the most tumultuous chapters of the Italian basketball summer. The situation had come to a head following Brown’s decision not to report to the training camp scheduled for August 19, a decision he communicated unilaterally just a few days before the set date: a decision that took the Trieste club by surprise, especially since the American had been among the very first to have his contract renewed—along with Candussi, Ruzzier, and Deangeli—and was considered one of the pillars of the team’s technical project. Coach Francesco Taccetti himself, upon announcing his own contract extension, had explicitly mentioned him: “I’m thrilled to have these outstanding players back: our captain Lodo, Ruz, Candu, and co-captain Markel. I trust them blindly, first and foremost because of the character they’ve always shown in the locker room.”
The negotiations for the termination had proved to be anything but simple. According to reports over the past few weeks, General Manager Michael Arcieri had set a penalty of $5,000 for each day of absence and was also demanding $200,000 to allow the player to be released from his contract: a figure far removed from the $60,000–70,000 that Brown’s entourage was willing to pay. The situation was further exacerbated by a personal rift between Arcieri and the player, whom the executive considered one of his key players: as recently as August 1, during a meeting, the two had agreed to meet regularly in Trieste. The player’s agent, Brian Jungreis, was the one to break the silence on the player’s behalf; in an interview with *Il Piccolo*, he described the situation that had arisen as “baffling”: “Much of the media narrative, both locally and nationally, comes primarily from the club’s side. I wanted to offer a different perspective. Although Markel is still under contract, given the current situation and the way it has been handled, we have no intention of bringing him back to Trieste this season.”
In Naples, Brown finds himself back in a familiar environment and on a team that is being built with significant ambitions. In recent weeks, the Neapolitan club had already pulled off another major signing, bringing in Jahmi’us Ramsey: a guard born in 2001 from Arlington, Texas, Ramsey was the leading scorer in the most recent Serie A regular season while playing for Trieste, averaging 19.3 points per game, before moving to the Gulf Coast. This is not without a touch of irony, considering that Brown and Ramsey were teammates in Trieste and that both have chosen Naples as their next destination.
The Azzurri are wrapping up their summer training in preparation for the start of the season. In recent days, during training camp in Kranjska Gora, the team coached by Repesa handily defeated BC Krka Novo Mesto 104–65, with Jakimovski leading the scoring with 27 points. The league debut is scheduled for September 27, when Napoli will visit Maxima Roma on the first day of the 2026–2027 Serie A season.
