Making an appearance on DNVR Sports’ Denver Nuggets podcast on Thursday (YouTube link), veteran forward Vlatko Cancar confirmed that he plans to sign with Olimpia Milano as a free agent.
Reporting earlier this week indicated that Cancar was expected to sign a two-year contract with the Italian club, which competes in the EuroLeague.
“After the season and before the free agency, I was talking with my agent, and then I was asking, ‘What’s going on with Denver?'” Cancar said (hat tip to Eurohoops). “Unfortunately, they came out with the news where it was kind of like a remodel. … They want to say thank you for everything that you did, but they’re trying to move on now and bring some new energy, bring some new players. And then I accepted it. I said OK, I’m glad I was part of the team for six years. For me, it was OK.”
Cancar was never a major rotation piece for Denver — he set a career high in 2022/23 when he averaged 14.8 minutes per game across 60 regular season contests, but he made just five brief postseason appearances in garbage time during the team’s championship run that spring.
He has played even less during the last two seasons as he has dealt with major left knee issues. He tore his ACL in August 2023 in an exhibition game prior to the FIBA World Cup, then underwent another procedure on the same knee in December 2024. The 28-year-old, who was able to play in just 13 games for the Nuggets across the past two seasons, indicated he’s looking forward to being healthy and having an opportunity to play a more significant role in Italy.
“Milano came straight away and they were eager to bring me in,” Cancar said. “And then, obviously, I got that feeling of being wanted and being important.”
The 49th overall pick in the 2017 draft, Cancar came stateside to join the Nuggets in 2019. Across six years and 143 regular season games with the team, the 6’8″ forward averaged 3.4 points and 1.8 rebounds in 10.7 minutes per night. He was known to be good friends with Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic.
3rd FIBA U19 World Cup rd of 8 game is about to tip bw Canada & USA. This should be a battle of a bunch of good D1 level guys vs a bunch of future NBA players (some of them future stars).. link to m.youtube.com
3 of the kids on Canada’s team are going to USF (South Florida) next season & if I’m not mistaken that’s the only 3 guys that have scored so far for them. They’re also 3 of the most athletic guys in this whole tournament. AJ Dybantsa is just in domination mode rn & he has led USA to a 17-9 lead halfway thru the 1st
Hakeem Olajuwon’s son is now in the game for Canada. He’s going into his 12th grade yr & lives in the Houston area. He has a Gerald Henderson Jr type game
This is definitely the 2 deepest teams in the tournament. It’s a trip to see how talented each teams 2nd unit is. Canada’s backup pg, Jordan Charles has brought his team back into the game with his shot making & energy but USA’s backup guards playing really well too, specifically JJ Mandaquit
Unsurprisingly USA turnt up right when AJ came back in the game. Jordan Smith Jr’s corner trey (off AJ’s deflection) just put em up 13 w/ 6:30 left in the half
Canada coming roaring back behind USF commit Tristan Beckford. His back2back treys including a 4pt play cut the American lead to 1 before AJ buried a turnaround jumper
An absolutely incredible steal/halfcourt buzzer beating trey from Pacific commit Jaion Pitt cuts the American lead to 7 at halftime. That 1st half was predictably exciting with a bunch of scoring & highlight plays. I’ll be surprised if Canada loses by less 20 but I’ve been wrong before.
Sheesh, Canada starts out the 2nd half on a 9-0 run, 2 treys from Boise State’s Spence Ahrens & 1 from USF’s Adriel Nyorha… Canada with their 1st lead of the game
Mikel Brown Jr been the best player in the tournament but he been comparably mid so far today. His big trey just gave the lead again midway thru the 4th. Great game so far
This Canadian team got a bunch of competitors, both teams do fr. (Butler commit) Efosu Oliogu pulled a nasty And1 type move on (Purdue big) Daniel Jacobsen for a layup. USA has a 1pt lead going into the 4th. If they were to lose before the medal rounds, man that would be something.
Nik Khamenia (Duke commit) just scored 5 straight to give USA a 6pt lead w/ 6mins left. MJ Johnson (Michigan big) is playing absolutely great here in the 4th
Refs really made their presence felt down the stretch but USA grinded out a tough 6pt W. Starting backcourt of Mikel/AJ/Jordan Smith Jr all played really well & led their team to the W. Great showing from the Canadian team from top to bottom.