Former sixth overall pick Jan Vesely is drawing interest from NBA teams exploring the idea of bringing him back stateside, reports Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders. According to Scotto, the Nets, Sixers, and Mavericks have expressed interest in Vesely.
Selected sixth overall by the Wizards in 2011, Vesely appeared in 162 total NBA regular season games for Washington and Denver over the course of three years, struggling to make an impact. He averaged just 3.6 PPG and 3.5 RPG during his three NBA seasons.
Since then, the 27-year-old power forward has played for Turkish club Fenerbahce, regaining his confidence and helping to lead the team to three straight Euroleague Final Four appearances. In 2016/17, Vesely averaged 10.7 PPG and 5.1 RPG in 29 Turkish League games, as well as 9.6 PPG and 4.5 RPG in 34 Euroleague contests, playing alongside former and future NBAers like Ekpe Udoh, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and Pero Antic.
While Vesely is drawing interest from NBA teams and has a contract that gives him an out to explore NBA opportunities, there’s no guarantee he’ll return to North America. He still doesn’t have much of an outside shot in his game, making him a less than ideal fit as a modern NBA big man, and a report last summer suggested he may be seeking an eight-figure salary to play in the NBA. He may be worth a flier for a team willing to roll the dice, but likely not at that price.
He’s garbage. Avg. 10 pts. per in 29 Turkish games. Come on. That’s about 2/per in the NBA and so many more games to wear down against bigger, stronger, better competition. Total slop even for teams looking to tank!
You obviously don’t watch the euroleague if you think 10pts per game is garbage. Overseas basketball is way different than the NBA. Guys aren’t avg 25-30 points per game.
An 8 figure salary? This dudes smoking to much of that Turkish Hash
I have more of a right to demand an 8 figure salary in the NBA than he does…
10 points per game in Turkey. Lavar could take him in a 1 on 1
Lmao savage
You’re right. I don’t watch the Euroleague because their game doesn’t translate well to the NBA and style of ball we play here in the USA. If I wanted to watch slow, boring, white men who can’t jump, I’d toon into the WNBA. Euroleague…Give me a break. It’s garbage ball and you know it. Get a clue!
men don’t play in the WNBA