7:50pm: Vukcevic’s contract with the Wizards is now official, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.
9:00am: Vukcevic is on track to sign a multiyear contract with the Wizards, confirms Josh Robbins of The Athletic (Twitter link). It’ll be a two-year deal, adds Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
7:55am: Seven-foot center Tristan Vukcevic has agreed to a buyout with KK Partizan, his team in Serbia, according to an announcement from team president Ostoja Mijailovic (Twitter link).
The buyout, which will be split between Partizan and Vukcevic’s former team Real Madrid as a result of a prior arrangement, is reportedly worth in the seven figures and will free up the big man to make the move to the NBA.
Vukcevic, who turned 21 on Monday, was the 42nd overall pick in the 2023 draft. He was selected by the Wizards, with general manager Will Dawkins expressing excitement about the youngster’s upside and lauding his shooting and passing abilities.
Although Vukcevic conveyed a desire last summer to join the team right away, Washington opted to have him spend another season overseas, where he played a very limited role for Partizan in 12 EuroLeague games. However, he impressed in 14 ABA League appearances, averaging 10.9 points and 3.6 rebounds in 18.9 minutes per contest, with a shooting line of .544/.440/.805.
It’s unclear whether Vukcevic has an NBA deal lined up with the Wizards or whether he’ll take a route similar to the one fellow draft-and-stash prospect Karlo Matkovic took last month with the Pelicans and finish the season with the Capital City Go-Go in the G League. Given the price of Vukcevic’s buyout, signing with the Wizards seems more likely.
Washington has only used a small portion of its mid-level exception so far in 2023/24, so the club could utilize it to sign Vukcevic to a deal that covers up to four years (including the rest of this season). The Wizards opened up a spot on their 15-man roster when R.J. Hampton‘s 10-day contract expired on Tuesday night.
The man can shoot but his rebounding stats are low for a 7 footer. That said if he can shoot anywhere close to his .440 line on 3 pointers in the NBA he should have a clear path to becoming a rotation piece in the League.
Can’t really draw any conclusions from his stats. Even looking at the totality of his pro stats dating back to 2019-2020, he just doesn’t have much sample size. He seems more like a Davis Bertans than anything.
Is he Italian?