It has already been reported that Bertāns was injured in Saturday’s “Optibet” Latvian-Estonian Basketball League (LIBL) game in Jelgava, in which “VEF Rīga” defeated “University of Tartu” & Moorits” team 74:71.
Bertan played just over 20 minutes, scoring five points and making two assists. He was forced to leave the field with less than two minutes left in the third quarter when Bertan earned a personal foul on Jaylen Henry.
Jahovičs revealed in a conversation with “Jauns.lv” that “VEF Riga” is currently looking for an addition to the squad and that it will most likely be supplemented by a foreign player.
The injury will most likely prevent Bertāns from participating in the Latvian national team, which has to meet Belgium in the 2025 European Championship qualifiers at the end of November.
Bertans scored 31 points in the first game of the FIBA Champions League and helped the team beat Bonn “Telekom”, the winner of the 2022/2023 season tournament, 86:72. In the second game of the tournament without Bertan, “VEF Riga” lost 71:78 to the Israeli team Ramatgan “Maccabi” in the Czech city of Opava on Tuesday.
This is the second season in a row for Bertāns in the ranks of “VEF Rīga”, having also represented the club from 2010 to 2013. In the ranks of the Riga club, Bertāns has won four Latvian championship titles.
During his career, the basketball player has also represented the Latvian teams “Valmiera”, ASK/”Juniors” and “Rīgas ASK”, the Spanish teams Bilbao “Bizkaia” and Sevilla “Real Betis”, the Turkish club Istanbul “Darišşafaka” and the Italian Serie A club Milan “AX Armani Exchange Olimpia”, National Basketball Association teams New Orleans “Pelicans” and Moscow region “Khimki”.