The Rockets are pushing to sign big man Marko Todorovic this summer, according to the player who spoke with Catalan newspaper L’Esportiu (translation via Aris Barkas of EuroHoops.net). Todorovic, whose draft rights are owned by Houston, is in the midst of a strong season for Bilbao Basket of the Spanish ACB League while on loan from Barcelona.
“The Rockets want me and in the summer I will [make] my decision. I believed that my style of play doesn’t fit the NBA, but the interest of the Rockets made [me] change my mind,” Todorovic said.
Barkas also hears from sources that Houston intends to make an offer to the 6’11” forward/center. Todorovic was originally drafted by the Blazers with the No. 45 overall pick in the 2013 draft. Just a couple of weeks later, he was sent to the Rockets in a deal that brought Thomas Robinson to Portland while giving Houston enough cap space to sign Dwight Howard.
Barkas also hears that the buyout on Todorovic’s deal is fairly close to the maximum allowed by the NBA’s CBA before it would count against the salary cap. That figure is $625K for 2015/16 but, if necessary, a team could exceed that amount by using cap room or an exception.
Todorovic is currently averaging a career high 11.5 PPG with 4.4 RPG in 27.3 minutes per contest. In March, Todorovic was named the ACB league’s player of the month (Spanish link).