The KC Rivers Cotonú passport has halted the continuity of the shooting guard, which was agreed upon when the season ended. The white team will fill its two spots for non-European players with Gustavo Ayón and Trey Thompkins, a star signing for the interior rotation.
The Argentine Facundo Campazzo, still in the process of obtaining Italian citizenship, will be loaned out, and the white team had three other American players with passports from the Cotonú countries: Jaycee Carroll, KC Rivers, and Marcus Slaughter. Only the first one has guaranteed continuity. Rivers will leave and the situation of the center has also been compromised.
The CSD issued a decree in May to halt agreements for obtaining Cotonú passports whenever the player could not demonstrate personal or sports ties to the country in question. This, which did not please the teams because it goes against European legislation, does not affect Carroll because he played a pre-European tournament with his adopted country, Azerbaijan. But it does affect Slaughter (Equatorial Guinea) and Rivers (Guinea Bissau). Since this measure cannot be applied to already signed contracts, it puts Rivers in check, although it should not affect Slaughter's situation, who renewed in 2014. However, Real Madrid does not want to take risks and prefers that he play as a non-European player, something that he already did in the final stretch of last season. But this option could lead him to only play in the Euroleague and could make Madrid consider his departure. Another option would be to make substitutions: a player can be changed for each game up to ten times during the ACB season.
KC Rivers could now sue the CSD, although Madrid prefers not to get involved in this matter and has turned towards Swedish forward Jeffery Taylor, who will not continue playing in the NBA and who declined an offer from Maccabi to play in white (he will sign for one season).
The Spanish basketball, meanwhile, is negotiating a new eligibility agreement for players after the end of last season in which clubs aim to obtain a third non-European spot which, in the specific case of Real Madrid, could solve Slaughter's situation. But the players' association (ABP) does not currently view this possibility favorably.