To help in its quest to reach the Turkish Airlines Euroleague through the qualifying rounds, VEF Riga has brought back veteran big man Ronalds Zakis, who once spent half a season with the club, for the next one. Zakis (2.06 meters, 27 years old) arrives from Riga's rival in Latvia, Ventspils, where he spend most of his pro career, seven seasons. Last season, he led Ventsplis in scoring with 13.7 points per game and pulled 4.9 rebounds on average, too. In 2008, Ventspils loaned Zakis to VEF Riga for the second half of the domestic season. The previous summer, Zakis led the FIBA Europe Under-20 Championships with 24.7 points per game. Zakis has played parts of two seasons in the Eurocup. He debuted in that competition with 2 appearances in the 2007-08 season, then was back in 2009-10 to averaged 7.8 points and 4.3 rebounds as a starter.