Jerebko seeking answers after Swedish ban for joining CSKA Moscow

STOCKHOLM : Swedish former NBA player Jonas Jerebko is still looking for answers about his future over a year after being suspended by his country's basketball association following his decision to join CSKA Moscow in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Jerebko regrets his decision to join a club in Russia, which calls its actions in Ukraine a "special military operation", and said in hindsight it was a mistake but so far he has been met by silence from the Swedish Basketball Association (SBL).

"I hadn't played basketball for almost a year and a half and I felt like I had no other offers," Jerebko told Reuters in an interview in central Stockholm.

"I got an offer from them (CSKA Moscow) and I took it. At that time, I was only thinking about basketball – it went completely wrong. I regret it now, and if I could go back in time, I would not have done it."

The 36-year-old was drafted 39th overall in the 2009 NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons before playing for the Boston Celtics and Utah Jazz and was part of the Golden State Warriors team that lost the 2019 NBA Finals to the Toronto Raptors.

Jerebko then joined BC Khimki in Russia until January 2021, and it was in an effort to get his NBA career back on track that he accepted a short-term contract with CSKA on March 30, 2022.

With several other foreign players leaving CSKA due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the 6'10" power forward was brought in to shore up the team, but once again Jerebko found himself on the losing side.

CSKA threw away a 3-1 lead in the VTB League finals series, eventually losing 4-3 to Zenit St Petersburg, and Jerebko waved away suggestions that money played a part in his decision to join the Moscow club.

"I've played basketball professionally since I