The NBA season is not quite underway yet, but most other professional leagues around the world have already begun. This includes the EuroLeague, the best competition outside of the NBA, and one replete with former NBA talents accordingly. And one of them just had the miss of the season already.
Former Miami Heat reserve big Chris Silva is currently beginning his second season with Turkish giants Fenerbahce, who also play in the EuroLeague. Forming a frontcourt rotation alongside Serlac Sanli, former New Orleans Pelicans forward Nicolo Melli, former Dallas Mavericks signee Marcus Bingham and four-year NBA veteran Braxton Key, Silva’s role is to play with energy, be busy on the glass and on defense, run the court and finish around the rim.
He does not always manage the last one.
In Fenerbahce’s second game of the EuroLeague season against Bayern Munich, a Bayern live ball turnover led to a wide-open breakaway for Silva. He was so wide open that no Bayern defender was even in the frame. And perhaps this confused him, as Silva promptly fell over an invisible flight of stairs and missed the resulting shot from all of half an inch.
Olmadı.
Silvaing A Fool
This was already Silva’s second low-light of the season. In a meeting against Olympiacos in Fenerbahce’s first EuroLeague game, he managed to goaltend a shot by Evan Fournier that was never even nearly above rim height. The effort is always willing, but the decision-making is not always right there with it.
In Silva’s defense, it seems obvious that the play was born out of a simple mis-step. Anticipating the dunk, he seems to have miscalculated where he should jump from, requiring him to switch to a layup in mid-air but without the time to adjust to it properly. The resultant attempt – somewhere between a lunk and a day-up – looked awkward and unexpected, because it was.
Nevertheless, missing the shot and being so off-balance as to hit the deck afterwards is an awkward moment for any player. The terrible Fenerbahce defense on the remainder of the possession was not Silva’s fault, but the miss so bad that it effectively functioned as a turnover was. Whoops.
Career With The Heat And Beyond
Silva, a native of Gabon (and the second player from the small African national to ever play in the NBA after Stephane Lasme), played four seasons at South Carolina from 2015 to 2019. He averaged 11.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.4 blocks across 134 college games, improving to 15.2 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.9 blocks as a senior, earning first-team All-SEC honours in both 2018 and 2019 while also being voted the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2018.
Undrafted in 2019, Silva joined the Heat, initially on a two-way contract before receiving a standard deal in January 2020. Miami kept him for almost two years before trading him to the Sacramento Kings in March 2021 as part of the Nemanja Bjelica deal. Subsequent NBA appearances came with the Mavericks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks and Miami again – across 70 total regular-season games, he averaged 2.8 points and 2.7 rebounds in 7.6 minutes, shooting 60.9% from the field. His best and busiest year was his rookie season, in which he appeared in 44 games.
Silva also played in the G League for Sioux Falls, Iowa and College Park. In 2023-24, he averaged 17.0 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 25 regular-season appearances for the College Park Skyhawks. His overseas career has subsequently included Puerto Rican clubs Piratas de Quebradillas and Mets de Guaynabo, followed by Bnei Herzliya in Israel and AEK Athens in Greece, before joining Fenerbahce in January 2026. During 2025-26, he averaged 16.2 points and 7.4 rebounds in 11 Greek league games for AEK, then 4.4 points and 1.7 rebounds across 16 EuroLeague appearances for Fenerbahce, where he remains for the 2026-27 season.
Former Heat Center Misses Easiest Shot Imaginable