Abbotsford – The Fraser Valley Bandits announced the club’s training camp roster for the upcoming 2021 Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) season.
“I expect training camp to be a war as everyone should be battling to prove themselves and in turn fighting together to establish a level of competition and team-wide excellence. This group will be ready to not only adapt to different styles of play but will also be ready for whatever surprises might be thrown at us throughout the changing dynamics of the pandemic,” Bandits general manager Kyle Julius said.
The two returning players from last year’s team that advanced to the CEBL final after finishing second during the regular season are Marek Klassen and Malcolm Duvivier. A six-foot-two guard, Duvivier is coming off the best season of his professional career. During the 2020 Summer Series, he averaged 11.3 points, five rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.7 steals per game on 42 per cent shooting from the field and three-point range, respectively. The Bandits named Duvivier defensive player of the year and team MVP for his stellar two-way play.
The longest tenured player in Bandits history, the 2021 campaign will be Klassen’s third consecutive year with Fraser Valley. Klassen enters the upcoming season as the club’s all-time leading scorer and playmaker with averages of 12.6 points and 6.2 assists per game.
The Bandits open the 2021 season at Abbotsford Centre when the club welcomes the Saskatchewan Rattlers for Fraser Valley’s home opener on Saturday, June 26. All regular season games will be live streamed on the free CBC Gem streaming service, cbcsports.ca, the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices and on a new OTT streaming platform that the CEBL will unveil this spring.
