Thousands of miles from home, Cade Davis finally earns elusive title
Tyler Palmateer
Daily Elk Citian
Aside from a short trip back this past Christmas, former Big Elk basketball player and University of Oklahoma standout, Cade Davis, had not set foot on the red dirt of Oklahoma since leaving August 12, 2011, with a flight itinerary bound for Macedonia. But after completing his first season playing professionally overseas, Davis was granted some extended vacation. He returned this month and made good use of his time, marrying his fiancee, Mara, in Oklahoma City, with friends, family, and former OU teammates (including Blake and Taylor Griffin) in attendance.
Halfway through his 2-year contract for the MZT Skopje organization, Davis could finally take a much-needed deep breath.
After all, Davis’ first season in the professional basketball world had all the markings of growing pains; Language barriers, acclimation to a new style and level of basketball, bouts of loneliness and homesickness were all present.
Although a year stronger as a person and a better basketball player, Davis explained his decision to return to Macedonia this month for another grueling, 10-month season was not a foregone conclusion.
“The decision to go back [for the upcoming season] was hard, even though I had already signed a 2-year deal,” Davis said. “Getting back home, getting married, and thinking about my family… it was a difficult decision to say the least. Right now though, it’s the best thing on the table, so it benefits me more to go back than to stay.”
That isn’t to say there weren’t plenty of positives in Davis’ first year as a pro, because there were plenty. He conquered the cultural barrier and averaged more than eight points and three rebounds in 20 minutes a game, in more than 30 contests overall.
Perhaps the best thing though was that by year’s end, Davis was in the starting lineup for MZT Skopje and finally earned the championship he had sought after his entire life.
The title, Davis said, manifested in ways he never thought imaginable.
BREAKING THROUGH
In Macedonia, there were challenges just to play the game of basketball.
Davis recalled away games in the winter time, playing in gyms with no heat, with a lower temperature on the inside than outside. Players could see their breath. Some would warmup in sweatpants and hoodies.
A few of his teammates even recalled players who would play in gloves with the finger-tips cut off.
“There were these interesting scenarios just to play games. At away games, you might get spit on or have stuff thrown at you. It was a shock. It was nerve-wracking and scary, like, ‘Why am I having to deal with this just to play the game?’”
It isn’t uncommon for quality college players to gain opportunities overseas, then return after less than a full year of basketball. Many can’t handle the transition and are overcome by culture shock. At first, Davis said he almost felt like a member of that group.
“I went through one point where I was by myself, living in my apartment, and it was tough,” Davis said. “There were times I would Skype and email my family saying, ‘I don’t think I can handle this.’ There were rough patches. I went through that point where I was like, ‘I’m done with this.’”
But Davis continued to grind and broke through the lonely times and moments of culture shock.
“I finally accepted it. The people here are regular people. They’re extremely nice. The food was obviously a little different, but you get used to it. The lifestyle is great, easygoing. I just had to get through that first initial stage.”
Once Davis wove his way through the personal and social challenges of his new life, ever present was the challenge and pressure of playing for a pro basketball team.
One positive was Davis began the year in MZT Skopje’s starting rotation, filling in for a veteran player who was sitting out with an injury. But even with a starting spot, Davis had to adjust to a shortened shot clock, playing in a league where every player can shoot the ball well, and facing defenders who made up for a lack of athleticism with toughness.
It wasn’t easy, especially for a guy like Davis who thrives on the three-ball.
“You have to get into your offense quicker, otherwise you’ll be throwing up stuff you just hope goes in,” Davis said. “Plus, everyone over there can shoot it. In college, you might play a guy who can’t shoot, so you can lay off him, but that’s not the case over there.”
Another distraction was that under the league’s format, the top eight teams from the regular season make the playoffs, but the last place team is cut-out completely from the league for an entire year. Such a turn of events would present disastrous consequences for players trying to make it in professional basketball.
“You do not want to get last place. That’s all our coaches kept saying,” Davis said.
THE CHAMPIONSHIP
Throughout the course of the season, the veteran guard whom Davis had replaced at the year’s beginning finally made his return, relegating Davis to a sixth man role.
But by the time playoffs rolled around, Davis managed to play his way back into the starting lineup, and his coach would assign him the duty of guarding opposing teams’ best perimeter players.
Once in the postseason, the pressure was on MZT Skopje. After 20 years in the Macedonian League, it had never won a championship. Davis was in a similar position, as titles had eluded him at every level in which he played.
“Never got one in high school or in college,” Davis said.
But Davis and Skopje finally got their chances, meeting KK Feni Industries in a seven-game series for the Macedonian Championship. In a strange sequence of events, KK Feni fans had been banned from the series’ final game, after being penalized for throwing objects onto the floor at Skopje’s players in a previous matchup.
So on May 2, playing on the road, without a single fan in attendance, MZT Skopje won the series and the national championship. Following the victory, while the KK Feni gym may have been silent, shockwaves rang out through “The Aerodrome,” which is the area MZT Skopje plays its games.
The scene was nothing short of pandemonium, Davis said.
“When we headed back to Skopje, our fans met us at a toll booth. They were waving flags, lighting flares, standing on their cars… They were going nuts.”
The throngs of fans followed the team in a caravan back to The Aerodrome. When the team arrived, thousands of people were standing and cheering, and the team was loaded onto double-deck busses to make their way through the crowd.
“Even national championships and stuff like that, these people… It didn’t compare to anything I’ve seen before. I saw a grown man crying,” Davis said.
GOING BACK
One of the biggest differences of playing professional basketball is the environment replicates that of a professional workplace, Davis said. Currently, the MZT Skopje organization wants the guard to return sooner rather than later, a process in which his agent is currently working out the kinks.
Should Davis return sooner than expected, his agent is present to make sure he is compensated for his work.
“It’s a business now,” Davis said. “If you’re not doing what you need to do, or producing, they’ll cut you. They’ll replace you. In college they might make you run, but now they take money out of your salary. I’m learning about that more and more as I go.”
When Davis returns to the pro basketball world, he will have to meet more new challenges. In addition to its Macedonian League games, his team will also participate in the highly-competitive Adriatic League. Teams there are even stronger than those Davis has seen thus far, so he will be asked to produce more than ever before.
But climbing peaks and trudging through valleys is something he is used to by now. All he has to do, Davis said, is continue to get better.
“In college, I looked at my numbers and they increased every year. That’s all I want them to do, is to keep going up.”
If trials prepare a person for the future, then Davis is well-tested. After all, the former Big Elk won enough personal battles in his first year of pro basketball to prepare him for nearly anything. It is no small feat, that the hot-shooting kid from western Oklahoma, ultimately found a way to make it in the Central Balkan Peninsula of Southeastern Europe.
“It was quite a ride throughout the entire season. It was an experience. Hopefully, I’ll do well [in the Adriatic League] and show myself, so I can get somewhere bigger and better.”
2011-2025 Statistics per game — Cade Davis, MZT Skopje
Points — 8.5
Rebounds — 3.2
Assists — 1.3
Minutes — 20.2
FG % — 55.9
3-Pt % — 38.4
FT% — 79.2