The Oita HeatDevils and Tokyo Apache agreed Tuesday on a trade between former draft No. 1 overall pick Joe Kurino and Taketo Aoki, both of whom are considered precious bench players for their respective teams, the bj-league announced on Wednesday.
The 195-cm Kurino, who was selected by the HeatDevils before the league's inaugural season in 2005, struggled this season playing in only 11 games and averaging 2.5 points per game for Oita. The 193-cm veteran Aoki, who was also an assistant coach for the Apache since the start of this season, has scored 5.2 points per game in 22 games (14 starts) played.