Copyright 2014 NBAE (Photo by Jack Arent/NBAE via Getty Images)Maarty Leunen drives against the Sacramento Kings during the NBA Summer League on July 21 at the Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas.

The NBA dream might be over for Maarty Leunen, but his career as a professional basketball player overseas will continue.

Next stop: Germany.

Leunen confirmed this week that he has signed a two-year contract with the Ratiopharm Ulm Sparrows of the Basketball Bundesliga league.

The former Redmond High and University of Oregon star said he played well for the Houston Rockets during this month’s NBA Summer League play in Orlando, Florida, and Las Vegas. But the timing was just wrong for the 28-year-old forward to earn a roster spot.

The Rockets were expected to sign a big-name free agent — and give up some players to do so, thereby leaving several roster spots open. But Houston never made that move, so they had little need to add a forward, Leunen explained.

“But that’s how the NBA is sometimes,” said Leunen, back home in Redmond this week. “Some guys are in the NBA just because they fall into the right situation and kind of get lucky. I could have very easily been one of those guys, but obviously things didn’t happen the way I hoped so I guess I kind of got UN-lucky.”

Leunen has an “NBA out” until this Saturday in his contract with Ulm, but he is not expecting to receive a last-minute training camp invitation from the Rockets.

“Maybe they have one roster spot as of right now, and I’m pretty sure they don’t need a forward,” Leunen said. “If I do get a call, that would shock me. But if it doesn’t happen, I’m pretty content going to Germany.”

A standout for the Ducks from 2004 to 2008, Leunen has spent the past six seasons playing in Europe, including the past five with Pallacanestro Cantu of the Italian Serie A league, regarded as one of the better leagues in the world outside of the NBA. Leunen said the German Bundesliga is at a level comparable to the Italian league.

“The German league is definitely an up-and-coming league,” Leunen said. “Their top three teams are becoming pretty good, and Ulm is a top-tier team. They always make the playoffs.”

The Rockets drafted Leunen in 2008 with the 24th pick of the second round and still own his NBA rights. After he was drafted, Leunen played for the Rockets in summer league for three consecutive years, but he never went to training camp with them.

Leunen had settled into a comfortable life in Italy with his wife and their two young sons when the Rockets came calling after this past season with an invitation to play in the summer league again. The 6-foot-9-inch, 220-pound Leunen said the Rockets were interested in him at the “stretch four” position, basically a power forward with long-range shooting ability.

In the Orlando NBA Summer League, staged in early July, Leunen averaged 9.5 points per game in four games and was 10 of 25 on 3-pointers.

“As summer league went on, the situation kind of changed,” Leunen explained. “They were teaching me about their system, and what they wanted me to do. There was actually pretty serious discussions of maybe having a roster spot.”

Leunen played so well in Orlando that the Rockets invited him to the Las Vegas NBA Summer League. He averaged 3.8 points over eight games in Vegas as his playing time dwindled to just 15 minutes per game. He made 12 of 28 3-point attempts in Vegas.

“I played pretty good, better than I was expecting,” Leunen said. “Summer leagues are kind of tough because it’s not really my style of play.” In summer league, he noted, “you kind of have to be more selfish in situations.”

“I feel like I’m a good team player and I try to make the right plays,” he added. “I just tried to showcase that, and obviously my ability to shoot, and I shot the ball pretty well throughout.”

In all, Leunen played 12 summer league games in 16 days for Houston.

He said he is now excited for the change of moving to Ulm, a city of 120,000 in southern Germany about 90 miles from Munich.

Leunen and his wife, Caitlin, have 5- and 3-year-old sons and are expecting their third son in October.

“I’ve spent five great years in Italy, but, you know, I wanted to experience something different, a different country, a different culture,” Leunen said. “That’s the great thing about me playing basketball, it allows me to experience different things. It’s only a short period of my life and I kind of want to take full advantage of it. Also, I know that the German league is a good opportunity for me to improve my basketball career.”

Leunen, who will travel to Germany on Aug. 17 for training camp, added that he has no regrets about his summer with the Rockets and his attempt to break into the NBA in his late 20s.

“It was a good experience,” he said. “I put it all out there.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0318, mmorical@bendbulletin.com