A handful of former Michigan State basketball stars have found new homes this offseason and Szymon Zapala is just the latest.
The Longwood transfer picked Michigan State last offseason and spent his senior year in East Lansing, filling that vacant role at the center position. He averaged 4.3 points and 4.0 rebounds for the Spartans in 14.2 minutes per game. Zapala's role decreased throughout the season but he still filled it well.
Now, he has a new role this summer as a member of the Polish national team heading into the 2025 EuroBasket. The official roster was announced on Wednesday.
Trener @mili44igor ogłosił listę powołań do szerokiego składu KoszKadry przed @EuroBasket 🏀
— KoszKadra (@KoszKadra) July 2, 2025
Szczegóły okresu przygotowawczego wraz z terminarzem sparingów ogłoszone zostaną w przyszłym tygodniu na konferencji prasowej 🇵🇱@miasto_katowice
KLIKNIJ ➡️ https://t.co/SUZnoMB90n pic.twitter.com/kieupRRoiV
Zapala joins a roster that also features Jeremy Sochan and Igor Milicic who are both in the NBA. This is a chance for him to make an impression and potentially parlay this into a professional career overseas. He has the frame and he's familiar with the European game so exceling in EuroBasket wouldn't be much of a surprise.
EuroBasket is an annual tournament that will be taking place in late-August until mid-September and it's hosted by Cyprus, Finland, Poland, and Latvia.
The tournament will consist of 24 European teams and it'll be divided into four regions and each is divided into six seeds. Poland is a 3-seed and it'll be in Group D with Iceland, France, Slovenia, Belgium, and Israel.
Although he played just one season in East Lansing, Zapala was a fan favorite and did everything he was asked. He's going to make some Team Poland fans out of Spartan fans later this summer.