Rasta Vechta secures US hope Dandridge – a star player for the BBL!

Rasta Vechta secures US hope Dandridge – a star player for the BBL!

It's the news many basketball fans have been waiting for: Rasta Vechta has signed Malcolm Dandridge! The 25-year-old center is moving from a US college, more precisely from the University of Memphis, to the easyCredit Basketball Bundesliga. This welcome news was officially announced on Thursday. Dandridge has signed a one-season contract and will be available to his new team from August 2025.

Dandridge comes to international basketball with a solid education. He fought for the University of Memphis Tigers in the NCAA for five years. There he was under the tutelage of Penny Hardaway, a former NBA player and four-time All-Star, which certainly had a decisive influence on his development. Dandridge knows Hardaway not only as a coach, but also as a mentor, having played under his tutelage in high school.

Career path of Malcolm Dandridge

The Memphis native has already won two state championships and was runner-up once at Memphis East High School. These successes are an important part of his basketball history, which continued all the way to the NCAA. In his college career, Dandridge steadily increased his scoring output from 3.4 points his freshman year to 8.0 points his senior year. In the 2023-24 season, he posted career-highs of 13:55 minutes per game, 5.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocks.

Unfortunately, Dandridge had to take time off the following season for personal reasons after losing his father. But Rasta's sports director Gerrit Kersten-Thiele is optimistic. He sees great potential in Dandridge. “He's an athletic and physical big man,” says Kersten-Thiele, emphasizing the importance of Dandridge's continued development from year to year.

The expectations of the new player

With a height of 2.05 meters and a weight of 113 kilograms, Dandridge has ideal qualifications for the position of center or power forward. The expectations for the new arrival are high. Kersten-Thiele explains that Dandridge should now take the next step in his career and accept the challenges of the Bundesliga.

With the signing of Malcolm Dandridge, it will be exciting to see what impulses he will bring to the coming season. Rasta Vechta did good business with this transfer and brought a promising player on board. Let's hope that the young athlete can exploit his potential and strengthen the team in the Bundesliga.

For more information about Dandridge and his development, those interested can read the reports on nwzonline and Rasta Vechta.