Rawle Alkins signs with the FC Porto Dragon Force in Portugals top league

Arizona Basketball fan favorite Rawle Alkins just joined the FC Porto Dragon Force in Porto Portugal on Tuesday for the remainder of their season.

Rawle Alkins landed in Lisbon Portugal early Tuesday morning our time. He then traveled to Porto, Portugal joining his new team, the FC Porto Dragon Force and has been welcomed with open arms by the team and fans.

Alkins, 22, will replace the injured American Import Will Sheehey, a four-year Indiana hoops player who spent three seasons in the NBA G-League. Also on the team are American veterans; Brad Tinsley (Vanderbilt 30), Max Landis (Purdue Fort Wayne 27), Preston Purifoy (Alabama 27), Noah Starkey (Southern Nazarene University 23) and Kayel Locke (UNC Greensboro 25).

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The Portuguese professional sports club, Futebol Clube do Porto, includes both soccer and basketball and has a fan base of four million and counting on Twitter.

Hailing from the FIBA league LPB (Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol), the team is currently ranked No. 3 out of 10 teams sitting at 17-3 behind Sporting (19-1) and Benifica (18-2). The LPB includes 14 teams and out of the three losses, FC Porto has lost one each to the top two teams, so Rawle is joining a power house that is preparing for a run at the LPB Championship with 6 games left in the regular season.

The team and fans are already showing him love on social media.

We know Alkins plays with a ton of heart and hates to lose, this is part of what he told his team (translated from English to Portuguese to English):,

"“I am here to help my teammates to be better, as there is always room for improvement. I think I can add winning mentality, intensity, physical capacity, points, defense, etc. Whatever I need to do to win, I’ll do it. I am very excited to be here and thankful for this opportunity to play for FC Porto. I will give my all on the pitch [court] with this jersey.”"

And you can be sure he will. Alkins has been training in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Phoenix staying ready for the best opportunity. He wasn’t going to settle, especially if the NBA wasn’t going to work out. His plan B was to play in Europe for a top team and top league, and his vision has now become a reality.  He was offered by many countries, but he was very focused on his goal to be in Europe, so he waited for the right opportunity and it came.

Rawle is about to experience a European fan base that has historically gone crazy at soccer games, and has completely embraced basketball. FC Porto has been around for a long time and recently changed its name to Dragon Force in 2012. Alkins coach is Moncho Lopez, who he had seems to be really pumped about having this Wildcat on his roster for the remainder of the season., “We thought it would be good to bring an extreme that would allow us to have a more complete squad.”

FC Porto calls Alkins an “Extremo” and a “Winger.” We just call him King Rawle. But we know he will kill it in Europe and his new fans will enjoy his extreme dunks and play in his quest for a championship in Portugal on his road back to the NBA.