Maccabi Tel Aviv big man Roman Sorkin, who excelled in the EuroBasket tournament for Israel’s national team, has garnered interest from the Trail Blazers, Knicks and Heat, Ian Begley of SNY TV tweets.
Sorkin was one of the top bigs in the EuroLeague last season, averaging 12.9 points and 4.1 rebounds, and he opened even more eyes in the tournament. He averaged 16.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.2 assists in six games, including a double-double against Slovenia.
Sorkin is no stranger to the U.S., having played four seasons for Oregon from 2014-18. He has played in Israel throughout his professional career.
Whether Sorkin will be able to leave Maccabi is another issue. He reportedly signed a five-year extension with the club last year, which puts him under contract through 2029, according to BasketNews.com. Sorkin would need to have some sort of out clause or buyout agreement to pursue an NBA opportunity.
Portland has 15 players under guaranteed contracts, so it would have to waive or trade one of those players to open up a roster spot.
The Heat only have 12 players with fully guaranteed contracts, but have two players with partial guarantees and can’t sign a 15th man while remaining below the luxury tax line.
The Knicks have 12 players on standard contracts, but only have room for one veteran’s minimum contract and another on a rookie minimum deal due to salary cap restrictions. Sorkin wouldn’t be a candidate for the Knicks’ rookie minimum roster slot. Since they don’t hold his draft rights, his salary would count as the veteran’s minimum for tax/apron purposes even if his cap hit was the rookie minimum, due to tax variance.
Seems like no reason for him to come here as a rookie or on a rookie minimum. Really losing status from being one of the “top guys” right now elsewhere. Basketball is now global and the talent is evening up fast. But maybe he likes America, and Oregon as it was when he went to college here. Interesting.
Americans see foreign guys who aren’t crazy tall/long/athletic and assume they can’t play basketball UNTIL they compete against NBA players in one of these tournaments. Then all of a sudden they’re drawing interest from all sorts of teams. Guerschon Yabusele was a great Euro League player for years, but was ignored. Then he dunks on LeBron and helps France reach a medal at the Olympics and all of a sudden NBA teams were salivating over him. Now he makes big bucks in New York. Sorkin is a very skilled and strong forward who can fit in just fine with NBA talent.
Deni Avdija doing some international recruiting for Portland.