Anchorage Daily News

Former East High and Duke University star Trajan Langdon is once again headed to the Final Four of the Euroleague in Madrid next weekend.

Langdon's CSKA Moscow team qualified for the sixth consecutive season -- the last three with Langdon on its roster. CSKA stands for Central Sports Army Club.

CSKA opens on Friday with a game against Tau Ceramica of Spain.

Benetton Treviso, Langdon's first Euroleague team, also made the Final Four in the 2002-03 season.

Langdon is one of 10 nominees for the All-Euroleague team that will be announced Saturday during the playoffs.

This is the third consecutive season Langdon has been nominated for the team. He was a first-team selection last season, the only American on that team.

This season, Langdon has led CSKA Moscow in three-pointers and minutes played while assembling a string of 13 straight games in double figures.

Two of Langdon's teammates are also all-league nominees -- Ramunas Siskauskas and Theo Papaloukas, last season's Euroleague MVP.

In fact, the CSKA roster is bulging with talented Europeans such as Papaloukas, 30, recently named one of the 35 greatest players in the 50-year history of the Euroleague; his fellow Greek guard Nikos Zisis, 24; and Lithuanian forward Siskauskas, 29, who chose to leave Euroleague champion Panathinaikos to move to Moscow this season.

CSKA is among the richest sports clubs in Europe with an annual club budget of more than $40 million. (The average NBA team's budget is more than $100 million.)

Langdon was the first Alaskan to play in the NBA and remains the only one picked in the first round (11th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1999).

He signed a three-year, guaranteed contract worth $4.2 million. After three years with the Cavs, Langdon moved to Europe to play for Italian powerhouse Benetton Treviso.

MORE ON LANGDON: A lengthy story by Ian Thompson of Sports Illustrated and a photo gallery by Bob Martin of the magazine are available online as well as in print.

si.com

ONLINE VIDEO: Click on a video of CSKA's star guards, including Langdon, at:

euroleague.net

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