Virtus Bologna continued its offseason overhaul on Tuesday by signing former NBA wing Wendell Moore Jr. to a one-year contract, bringing the 2022 first-round pick to Europe for the first time in his professional career.
The 23-year-old guard/forward joins Virtus after spending the past four seasons between the NBA and the G League. The Italian club announced the deal Tuesday, adding another athletic perimeter player to a roster that has undergone significant changes following a disappointing 2025-26 EuroLeague campaign.
Moore arrives with a decorated basketball résumé that began at Duke, where he developed into one of college basketball’s top two-way wings. During his junior season in 2021-22, he started all 39 games, averaged 13.4 points and 5.3 rebounds while shooting 41.3% from three-point range, and earned the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award.
His performance helped make him the 26th overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. Moore was selected by the Dallas Mavericks before his draft rights were immediately traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Moore went on to appear in 96 NBA games with the Timberwolves, Charlotte Hornets and Detroit Pistons. Across four seasons, he averaged 2.3 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.7 assists while shooting 46.4% from the field. His largest NBA role came during the 2024-25 season, when he played 36 games between Charlotte and Detroit, averaging 4.2 points in 13.9 minutes.
His strongest production, however, came in the G League. Last season, Moore averaged 19.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists while shooting 39.1% from beyond the arc in approximately 30 minutes per game, numbers that helped convince Virtus to offer him his first overseas opportunity.
The move comes as Virtus attempts to rebound from a difficult EuroLeague season. The Italian club finished 14-24, placing 17th in the 20-team standings after being outscored by 175 points during the regular season.
The roster has changed dramatically since then. Leading scorer Carsen Edwards (17.3 points per game), along with Matt Morgan, Alessandro Pajola, Yago Dos Santos, Luca Vildoza, Saliou Niang and Nicola Akele, all departed this offseason.
Virtus has responded with an extensive rebuild under new head coach Alex Mumbru. The club has added Tommaso Baldasso, Davide Cesarin, Bobi Klintman, Rasheed Bello, Marcus Carr, Kessler Edwards, Trent Frazier and now Moore as it looks to reshape both its backcourt and wing rotation.
Moore’s versatility could prove valuable in that process. At 6-foot-5 (1.96 meters), he has experience defending multiple perimeter positions while also functioning as a secondary playmaker. His shooting improvement in the G League also addresses an area of need for Virtus after the club ranked near the bottom of the EuroLeague standings.
International experience is the remaining question. While Moore has competed at every level in the United States—including winning gold medals with USA Basketball at the FIBA Under-16 Americas Championship and the FIBA Under-17 World Cup—this will be his first season adapting to European basketball.
