Gemlik, TOFAŞ & the Professional Path

By the end of his season in Monaco, Efe had recovered from one of the most difficult periods of his young life.

The year had begun with illness, injury and expectations that were never fully realized. Yet it ended with Efe playing some of his best basketball of the season and becoming physically stronger through the early-morning work he had completed away from the team.

The original Monaco project had changed, however, and remaining there was no longer considered the right path.

Efe was free to choose his next destination.

The first thought was a return to the United States.

But another important part of his journey still had to be completed:

His final year of high school.

Efe's education had already become a remarkable international journey of its own. He completed ninth grade in the United States, tenth grade in Spain, eleventh grade in Monaco's French school system, and twelfth grade in Turkey.

Each year required him to adapt to a different country, educational structure, language and culture.

Although Efe had always spoken French with his father and had attended kindergarten in French, he had never previously completed a full academic year within the demanding French secondary-school system.

His beginning in Monaco was difficult.

But through discipline and effort, he improved rapidly and earned promotion to the following academic year on merit.

He then returned to Turkey for his twelfth and final grade at Doğa Koleji in Bursa, where he successfully completed high school.

Completing four high-school years in four countries and four linguistic environments became an achievement equal in many ways to anything he had accomplished on a basketball court.

It demonstrated intelligence. Adaptability. Independence. And the ability to perform under constant change.

During the summer of 2023, Efe and his family discussed the next step with several trusted figures in Turkish basketball.

The United States remained an option, but two respected coaches encouraged the family to first visit TOFAŞ in Bursa.

Among them were Ümit Coach, then connected to the Anadolu Efes senior-team staff, and Yasin Coach, who had known Efe since his earliest years.

They believed Efe's international experience and advanced skill set would be appreciated by Cem Akdağ, one of Turkish basketball's most respected development coaches.

Efe visited TOFAŞ with his older brother.

The response was almost immediate.

After only one or two practices, the club made its position clear: they wanted him to stay.

Efe felt comfortable in the facilities, connected naturally with the environment and appreciated the seriousness of the development program. At seventeen years old, he accepted the challenge and moved to Bursa.

Before Efe could compete, an international transfer had to be completed from France back to Turkey.

The process was more complicated than a standard domestic registration. It involved clearance from the French basketball authorities and documentation connected to his previous participation with the Dutch youth national team.

Before his seventeenth birthday, Efe had also signed documentation confirming his intention to represent Turkey in the future.

The paperwork moved between the relevant federations and basketball authorities during the summer of 2023. Despite warnings from the family that the process required careful attention, the registration took longer than expected.

As a result, Efe once again missed the beginning of a season — not because of injury this time, but because he was not yet administratively cleared to play.

By the time his qualification was completed, the teams had already begun competing and the rotation had started to form without him.

He entered as a backup guard and had to earn his position from the beginning. Again.

Once registered, Efe entered one of the busiest and most demanding periods of his career. Through TOFAŞ and its affiliated structure, he competed across several levels.

He played school basketball with Doğa Koleji during his final academic year.

He played youth basketball through Gemlik.

He competed in Turkey's elite youth development competition, the Basketbol Gençler Ligi, commonly known as the BGL.

He also gained experience in TB2L, a national senior men's competition where young players faced physically mature and experienced opponents.

The structure created an enormous number of games and practices. Efe was no longer developing only against players his own age. He was learning to manage different teammates, coaches, systems and physical levels — sometimes within the same week.

At first, he had to fight his way back into the rotation.

Gradually, his role expanded.

Backup guard became rotation player.

Rotation player became starter.

Over the course of his youth period with Gemlik and TOFAŞ, he developed into an undisputed starting guard and one of the organization's most important young players.

Years later, Cem Akdağ shared an observation that revealed how advanced Efe's understanding of the game had already become.

While reviewing old footage for a basketball book he was preparing, he noticed details he had not fully recognized while coaching Efe.

Inside the team's official plays, Efe was sometimes creating smaller actions of his own. A hand signal to a teammate. A disguised backdoor cut. A secondary movement hidden inside the original set. A play within the play.

These actions were not designed to disrupt the system. They were created to read what the defense was giving and produce an additional advantage without abandoning the team structure.

According to Cem Akdağ, only players with exceptional basketball intelligence recognize and organize such possibilities in real time.

For Efe, it was the natural result of everything he had learned. American creativity. Spanish tactical structure. And the freedom to see basketball beyond the first option.

During his first season in the TOFAŞ structure, Efe also competed in the Youth Basketball Champions League.

The tournament allowed him to test himself against strong international opposition and demonstrate that his game could translate beyond domestic competition.

He produced highly efficient performances and was selected to the tournament's Best Five.

It was one of the clearest confirmations of his progress. The young guard who had spent years collecting skills across different countries was now applying them successfully on an international stage.

During his second season with TOFAŞ, Efe began training regularly with the senior professional team.

The transition demanded another adjustment. The speed was greater. The players were stronger. Mistakes were punished immediately.

Under head coach Orhun Ene, Efe learned what professional preparation required, even though his official game opportunities remained limited.

During the Gloria preseason camp in Antalya, he received minutes against Anadolu Efes, one of Europe's leading teams. In limited time, Efe immediately found a scoring opportunity against EuroLeague-level opposition.

It was only a preparation game, but it offered a glimpse of what could come next.

At eighteen, the objective was still education. Watching. Learning. Adapting. Preparing.

In the summer of 2025, at nineteen years old, Efe signed a five-year professional contract with TOFAŞ.

For the first time, he would belong exclusively to the senior team competing in Turkey's top domestic competitions and the Basketball Champions League.

He was consistently included in the senior roster and travelled with the team.

But the season presented another test.

Under the newly appointed head coach, Efe did not receive opportunities during the preseason preparation games. Across several scrimmages, he remained on the sidelines.

That made the direction of the season increasingly clear. Official minutes were extremely limited, often consisting only of a few closing seconds that offered no real opportunity to show his abilities.

For a young player who had trained his entire life for this moment, the frustration was significant.

But his behavior never changed.

He remained engaged. He supported his teammates. He trained with intensity. He travelled with the team. He prepared every day as though his opportunity could arrive at any moment.

He did not allow the absence of minutes to reduce the quality of his work.

Later in the season, a coaching change opened the door.

Assistant coach Murat Coach assumed responsibility for the team and finally gave Efe meaningful opportunities.

Efe responded immediately.

His first impact came through defense. He applied pressure to experienced professional guards, disrupted possessions and showed that his energy could change the rhythm of a game.

Offensively, he played without fear. He converted jump shots over established professionals and demonstrated that he could compete at the level he had spent years preparing for.

One of the most memorable moments came against Trabzonspor, when he defended league MVP Marcquise Reed with exceptional intensity and also scored against him.

The sequence, available on the website, represented more than a successful possession. It was the confirmation that Efe belonged.

After years of preparation, he had finally received a genuine opportunity against senior professionals — and he had taken it.

From the disappointment of the Under-16 period onward, Efe had carried one personal objective: to earn his way back into the Turkish national-team system.

He had hoped for an Under-18 opportunity, but it never materialized.

He continued working. For four years, the goal remained unchanged.

By the end of the 2025–2026 professional season, teammates and coaches encouraged him to believe that his moment had finally arrived.

The Turkish Under-20 National Team would provide the opportunity to play extended minutes, show the full range of his game and demonstrate his value in front of clubs and college programs from around the world.

His strong finish to the professional season made his invitation to the initial Turkey U20 selection process a natural next step.

Everything he had worked for seemed to be coming together.

The player who had once been left outside the Under-16 selection was returning four years later as a legitimate candidate to lead Turkey at the Under-20 European Championship.

That would become the next chapter.

And once again, the journey would take an unexpected turn.